Feb. 25, 2007
Final Stats
Riverdale, N.Y. - The Siena (9-19, 8-10) women's basketball team took down Manhattan (10-19, 7-11) 71-57 this afternoon in their regular-season finale. Junior forward Laura Menty led the way for the Saints scoring 17 points in the winning effort. Shondaya Burrell, a sophomore guard, registered 15 points and nine rebounds. Siena shot a blistering 65% from the field and placed four players in double figures.
"We did an excellent job on the both ends of the court today," said head coach Gina Castelli. "This was a great win for us, hopefully we can carry this into the post-season."
The Saints got off to a hot start jumping out to a 10-2 advantage early in the first half capped off by a Melissa Manzer 3-pointer at the 16:40 mark. Manzer put up 14 points, four rebounds and five assists on the afternoon. Manhattan struggled shooting early on, but once the Lady Jaspers got going junior forward Caitlin Flood carried the weight scoring seven of their first 11 points.
Siena was sizzling in the first half going 14-for-20 from the field (70%) and 3-for-4 (75%) from beyond the arc. Katelyn Dooley and Menty both got off to hot starts going 4-for-5 apiece from the field. Dooley finished with 13 points.
With 45 seconds remaining in the first half, Dooley drained a trey from the corner to put the Saints up 35-24. Then on the very next possession, Burrell connected on a lay-up to give the Saints a 37-24 halftime lead.
Siena picked up right where they left off in the second half connecting on 60 percent of their field goals. The Saints saw their largest lead of the game at the 9:13 mark when sophomore forward Heather Stec registered her second straight lay-up to put the Saints ahead 58-37. Stec tallied eight points on the afternoon.
The Lady Jaspers continued to battle and eventually cut the Siena lead down to 12 (67-55) with a Gabrielle Cottrell free-throw at the 1:28 mark. However, this would prove to be too little too late for Manhattan as Siena knocked down their free-throws in the closing minute to secure a 71-57 victory.
With the win, Siena secures either a fifth or sixth place finish earning an opening round bye in the 2007 MAAC tournament. The final standings are dependent on the results of the Canisius and Saint Peter's games this afternoon.
