LOUDONVILLE, NY – It would be a bittersweet day at the Alumni Recreation Center for the Siena Saints Saturday afternoon. The women's basketball program honored their senior student athletes
Aaliyah Jones,
Joella Gibson,
Karolina Severova, and
Deja Rawls prior to the game. But the result did not fall in their favor, as the fell to the Quinnipiac Bobcats by a final score of 67-38.
With the win, the Bobcats have won their MAAC record 49
th straight win in conference play, as they locked up the number one seed and undefeated 18-0 mark in the conference this season. Siena's postseason fate is to be determined following the result of the Marist/Niagara matchup at 7 p.m.
The Saints (12-17, 8-10) were led by a 12 point day from junior
Maddie Sims, who also snagged five rebounds and two blocks. Freshman
Hanna Strawn collected both of Siena's three-pointers on the day, ending up with eight points. Jones finished with seven points and four rebounds, while freshman
Amari Anthony led the team in rebounds with seven.
For Quinnipiac, Jen Fay notched a double-double with 24 points and 13 rebounds on 10-for-13 shooting from the floor. Brittany Martin tossed in 18 points for the Bobcats, with Paula Strautmane added 11 points and three assists. As a team, the Bobcats dished out 17 total assists.
It was a slow start for the Saints, as they only got a pair of points from the free throw line from Rawls. Strawn would hit a three pointer in the second quarter, mixed in with some Siena free throws for all the scoring in the first half. After the first 20 minutes, the score stood 37-7 in favor of Quinnipiac.
The Green and Gold got things going offensively in the second half, as they came out and got a layup right off the bat from Sims. That kickstarted the Saints, as they cut the lead to 22 from 30, as a Sims layup with 1:57 left in the third looked to get things going. Siena would outscore the Bobcats 31-30 the rest of the way until the final horn.
Quinnipiac outscored the Saints in the paint 24-18, and had 13 points off turnovers.
The Saints return to the floor on Thursday to open their postseason in the MAAC Championships at the Times Union Center in Albany. Time and opponent are still to be determined.
