Jan. 8, 2016

Final Stats | Photo Gallery

LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. -- Freshman guard Jackie Benitez continued her torrid stretch posting career-highs of 25 points and five steals as Siena Women's Basketball opened a season long three-game homestand with a 66-45 throttling of Rider at the ARC. Sophomore guard Kollyns Scarbrough added nine points, six rebounds and four steals for the surging Saints which have won four straight and eight of ten to eclipse the .500 mark for the first time this season.

Benitez was unconscious off the bench in scoring 16 or more points for the fourth time in the past five games. The reigning MAAC Rookie of the Week also tallied a career-high with six three-pointers and added a pair of blocks in a thorough all-around performance to lead the Saints (8-7, 5-0) which kept pace with Iona for first place in the MAAC at the quarter pole of the conference schedule.

Fellow reserve Symone Kelly added another solid performance off the bench with seven points and eight rebounds as Siena extended the MAAC's longest active regular season conference winning streak to nine, while matching the program's best league start in 14 years. Kelly and Benitez have now combined to score 111 of the four-person bench's whopping 137 points during the Saints' win streak.

Albany native C'quoya Haughton posted a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds in her homecoming for Rider (3-11, 0-5) which has lost six straight and 10 of 11 since opening the season with consecutive victories.

Playing in the Capital Region for the first time in 27 days and first time at the ARC in 33 days, the Saints used a big second quarter to bury the Broncs early. Siena outscored Rider 24-8 in the stanza to double up the Broncs 36-18 at the half.

The Saints' stout defense set the tone early, forcing Rider into 15 first half turnovers. Siena swiped 11 steals over the opening 20 minutes and scored more points off turnovers (19) than Rider scored overall (18) in the first half.

Meanwhile Benitez provided all the offense Siena needed, outscoring the Broncs by herself in the second quarter with an 11-point stanza. She would go on to shoot 8-14 from the field and 6-10 from distance and now leads the Saints averaging 16.4 points off the bench in conference action.

Siena extended its lead to as many as 24 points in the second half as the Saints held Rider -- which was without the MAAC's second leading scorer Robin Perkins -- to just 26.9% (14-52) from the field.

Siena can move to 6-0 in the MAAC for the first time since the 2001-02 season with a win Sunday over Manhattan. The Saints host the Jaspers at 2 p.m. at the ARC.