LOUDONVILLE, NY – The Siena Saints women's basketball program officially gets their 2018-19 season underway on Saturday afternoon, as the green and gold take on the Penn Quakers at the Alumni Recreation Center, with tip-off at 2 p.m. The game will feature the 10
th annual Stomp Out Homelessness Game, in conjunction with Siena College and the Interfaith Partnership for the Homeless.
2018-19 Siena Women's Basketball season and individual game tickets are on-sale now. Season tickets start as low as $70, and can be purchased by contacting the Siena Fan Relations Management Center at (518) 487-2202, online at sienasaints.com/tickets, by e-mail at sienatickets2@siena.edu. Women's individual game tickets can be purchased online at sienasaints.com/tickets or in-person at the Alumni Recreation Center Box Office on game days.
Stomp Out Homelessness is a month-long campaign bringing youth groups, businesses and sports fans together in a fun and interactive way to fight homelessness. Proceeds benefit IPH, an agency building stronger communities by empowering individuals and families who are homeless or facing homelessness to become self-sufficient. Last year, Stomp Out Homelessness raised over $5,000 for IPH. At halftime, all fans are encouraged and invited to come down to the court and join fellow stompers in dancing the Cha Cha Slide; in a fun and symbolic way to stomp out homelessness.
Tune into Siena All Access, where
Joe Mixie and Steve Amedio will have the call for WVCR The Saint on today's radio broadcast. Click the corresponding links to follow along with today's game coverage.
Social media updates will be provided courtside throughout the day via the Saints' official twitter page @sienawomenshoop. Join the conversation by using the hashtag #MarchOn during the game.
Siena comes off a 17-14 finish a year ago, falling in the semifinals of the MAAC tournament to second-seeded Marist at the Times Union Center. The Saints look to get a step closer this season, as they return four of five starters, resulting in being picked third in the MAAC Preseason Poll behind both Marist and Quinnipiac. Senior
Aaliyah Jones and junior
Maddie Sims were named to Preseason All-MAAC teams, with Jones selected to the third team, and Sims to the second team.
The Saints lost
Kollyns Scarbrough, who sits seventh all-time on the programs scoring list, but supplemented that loss by bringing in a talented six-player freshman class who will make an immediate impact in the rotation. The green and gold added
Hanna Strawn, Lala Watts,
Amari Anthony,
Margo Peterson,
Haley Blasetti, and
Angelina Hammond.
In the series history, Siena and Penn have only faced twice, opening up the duel in Loudonville in 2000-01, with Penn taking the win over Siena. However, it would be the Saints taking the most recent meeting in 2001-02 by a final score of 73-65 at The Palestra.
Penn posted their fifth-straight 20-win season a year ago, going 22-9 overall and finishing second in the Ivy League with a record of 11-3. The Quakers fell in the Ivy League Championship game, but earned a berth to the WNIT. Penn graduated a four-senior class, but return consensus Ivy League Rookie of the Year Eleah Parker to their starting five. She posted 11.5 points per game last season, along with 7.9 rebounds. The 6-4 sophomore was also named big 5 Rookie of the Year as well last season.
