PITTSBURGH, PA – Fresh off a win against a Keystone State opponent to conclude a season-opening four-game homestand, Siena Women's Basketball (2-2) hits the road for its longest trip of the year. The Saints will conclude a home-and-home series with A-10 foe Duquesne (3-1) on Tuesday, November 22, 2022, with tip-off at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania set for 6 PM.
Tuesday's contest can be viewed on ESPN+ and can be heard locally on 88.3 FM The Saints or anywhere on iHeartRadio. Pregame coverage tips off at 1:30 p.m., with the radio "Voice of the Saints" Joe Mixie and longtime color commentator Steve Amedio on the call. Fans can also follow along with the corresponding live stats link, while continuous in-game press row updates will be provided via the women's basketball team's official twitter page @Siena_WBB. Join the conversation by using the hashtags #MarchOn, #SienaSaints, and #MAACHoops.
The Saints once again found the win column to end their first stretch of the year with a 63-55 victory over Lafayette on Saturday, November 19. Three Saints went for double-figure scoring, with junior Ahniysha Jackson scoring a team season-high 18 points off the strength of five three-point shots. Sophomore Anajah Brown added 13 points and a game-high nine boards, while freshman Teresa Seppala went for 12 points and seven rebounds. Classmate Elisa Mevius used 31 minutes to dish a season-best seven assists, while the team held the lead for over 33 minutes of play.
Siena has now claimed MAAC Rookie of the Week honors in both weeks to begin the 2022-23 campaign, with Seppala most recently doing so on Monday after averaging 11 points and seven boards in two contests last week. Mevius was named the MAAC Rookie of the Week on November 14 after posting 16 points in her collegiate debut to help the Saints win their season opener over New Hampshire. Siena has claimed multiple Rookie of the Week honors and has done so in consecutive weeks for the first time since 2016, and has now had two different players take home a Rookie of the Week honor in the same season for the first time since the 2013-14 campaign.
After starting the season with its longest home stand to begin a campaign since 2010-11, Siena now embarks on its second-longest stretch away from home during the regular season (three games), and will spend seven of its next nine contests away from the Capital Region. The trip to Duquesne takes the Green and Gold 500 miles, marking the longest road trip this season and the program's longest since facing a Jim Jabir-led Florida Atlantic team on November 19, 2019 in the Sunshine State. The Saints are the final MAAC team to play a road game this season.
Through four games played, Siena currently leads the MAAC in steals per-game (12.8) and assist-to-turnover ratio (0.94), while ranking second in blocks per-game (4.2), field goal percentage defense (35.8), rebound margin (1.2), rebounds per-game (43), scoring margin (3.8), turnover margin (5.5), turnovers forced per-game (21), and least turnovers committed per-game (15.5). The teams' swipes average is good for 27th nationally. Having recorded ten total blocks and an average of 2.5 swipes per-game, Brown currently leads the MAAC in both categories and is 18th nationally in the former.
The Saints and the Dukes renewed their rivalry last season in Siena's 2021-22 home opener at the UHY Center on November 27, 2021, with the game featuring a 34-34 tie with 7:24 remaining in the third quarter. The Dukes outscored the home team, 17-9, during the final ten minutes of action to take home a 59-49 win, with Duquesne's Megan McConnell posting a game-high 17 points and Libby Bazelak collecting ten rebounds. Siena shot 39 percent from the field and went 3-16 from beyond-the-arc, with Rayshel Brown (11) and Selena Philoxy (ten) each going for double figures. The Saints were held without a free throw attempt in the loss for the first time since 2006.
The pair are set to meet for the fourth time, with Duquesne holding a 2-1 advantage thus far and all three games being decided by ten points or less. Having played the last two series meetings at home, Siena will take its first trip to Duquesne since falling in a 74-65 decision to open the series on December 22, 2003, and will head to the Steel City for the first time in any capacity since falling to Pittsburgh on November 13, 2012. Formerly the head coach as a conference counterpart to Duquesne while at Dayton (2003-16), Jim Jabir holds an 11-9 overall mark against the Dukes. Coach Jabir will look to win his first game in two tries in the Keystone State during his second stint in Loudonville, and will aim to give the Saints their first victory in Pennsylvania since November 28, 2007 (W, 59-55 at Drexel). Siena has lost its last four games in their geographic neighbors to the southwest.
At 3-1 on the season, Duquesne suffered its first loss of the year last Saturday in the City Game to crosstown rival Pittsburgh by a score of 61-45. Having defeated Point Park, Brown, and MAAC counterpart Manhattan to start the year, the Dukes lead the A-10 and rank 25th nationally in field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to just 32.2 percent from the field and 55.8 points per-game, and also lead their conference in rebounding (44.75). Tess Myers leads the A-10 in three-point shots per-game with an average of three, while Megan McConnell is one of only three players thus far on the year to post a triple-double, doing so on November 11 with ten points, 13 rebounds, and ten assists against Brown. Tenth year head coach Dan Burt is only five wins away from becoming the winningest head coach in program history.
