Senior Sabrina Piper scored 17 points and dished out five assists for the Siena Saints on Sunday afternoon, but the Green and Gold could not break through for a lead late after trailing by double digits. They would fall to the UMass Minutewomen by a final score of 61-55.
 
Behind Piper's effort was a 14 point, seven rebound, four steal game from junior Rayshel Brown, as she went 7-for-11 from the field in the contest. Sophomore Amari Anthony scored nine points, while freshman Julia Hauer added eight points. Sophomore Lala Watts would collect six rebounds.
 
UMass was led by a 19-point showing from Hailey Leidel, who also added five steals on the night. Maeve Donnelly would fall a pair of rebounds short of a double-double with 10 points, eight rebounds, and six blocks, while Destiney Philoxy also scored 10 points and dished out five assists.
 
The first quarter was a defensive battle, as each side only scored a pair of buckets through the first media timeout. At the end of the frame, the Saints held an 8-7 lead. The offense got going in the second quarter, as the Saints scored six points within a minute to tie things at 14-14. But UMass closed the half with a 19-6 run, opening up a 33-20 lead.
 
The Saints brought things back in the third quarter, as Siena shot 53.3 percent from the floor in the frame, and outscored UMass 19-12. The Green and Gold used an 8-0 run to end the quarter, as they were only down six headed to the final 10 minutes. Anthony would hit a three-pointer for the Saints to cap the quarter, as the Saints trailed 45-39.
 
That momentum would continue into the fourth quarter as Siena would start to turn the Minutewomen over, as the total in the second half reached 10. The Saints cut the lead to three points as they trailed 48-45 with six minutes to play. From that point, the Minutewomen were able to get some points in the paint, holding off the Saints charge down the stretch by scoring 13 points over those final six minutes.
 
UMass was able to get to the free throw line a total 24 times, making 17. Siena would only go to the charity stripe eight total times in the game, sinking five.
 
Siena returns to the floor on Thursday, Dec. 19 as they Green and Gold head to Teaneck, NJ to take on Fairleigh Dickinson. The matchup will be Siena's final non-conference game of the year, with tip-off for the matchup coming at 7 p.m.