Nov. 29, 2005

Final Stats

The Siena women's basketball (1-3) team is still in search of its first road victory of the season as they lost to the Minutewomen (2-3) 71-53 at the Mullins Center this evening.

The Saints jumped out to an early lead as Wilbraham, Mass., native Laura Menty fittingly scored the first bucket of the game. Michelle Blot managed two tough scores in the opening moments, her last bucket gave the Saints their final taste of the lead in the first half at 10-9. After Heather Stec (Cazenovia, N.Y.) came off the bench and recorded her first two field goals of the season, Siena held a 14-11 edge.

Massachusetts put the clamps on and didn't allow the Green and Gold a single basket for an eight minutes stretch in the first half. Once again, Menty supplied the much needed boost converting on three straight field goals over the half's last two and a half minutes. Freshman Shondaya Burrell (Albany, N.Y.) converted a tough drive for the Saints to close out the half's scoring with the Minutewomen leading 37-26. UMass outscored Siena 22-10 over the final 10 minutes before the intermission.

The Green and Gold shot 52% from the field (13-of-25) but allowed the Minutewomen to connect on 58.6% of their shots. The Saints went 0-for-5 from downtown while UMass hit on 3-of-9 shots. Siena recorded their first blocks of the season when Michelle Blot swatted Ashley Sharpton's shot in the first half and added another in the second.

The game featured nine lead changes all occurring in the first half of action. Siena was outscored 34-27 after the break. The Green and Gold shot 39.3% from the field after the intermission.

Stec finished with 10 points and three boards of the bench and joined Menty as the only two Saints in double figures.

The next win for the Siena will be the program's 500th.

Siena now hits the road for Coral Gables, Fla., and a Saturday meeting with the ACC's undefeated Miami Hurricanes. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m. and the Saints next return home on December 9 as they host Manhattan at 7 p.m.