BURLINGTON, VT – Despite the Thanksgiving holiday having come and gone, Siena Women's Basketball was still itching to feast Saturday afternoon to begin play at its third appearance at the TD Bank Classic. The Saints (3-3) matched a season-high in scoring and overcame an eight-point deficit to take a 78-71 victory over Oakland (2-3) at Patrick Gymnasium in Burlington, Vermont. The win sends the Green and Gold to the Championship Game of the tournament for the first time ever, where they will meet the host Catamounts (3-3) Sunday at 3 PM.
Improving to .500 through six games played on the season for the first time since the 2017-18 campaign, the Saints held an early 7-2 advantage before allowing the Golden Grizzlies to power forward to a 32-24 advantage with 4:50 remaining in the first half. The Saints cut their deficit to five by way of a three-pointer from sophomore Valencia Fontenelle-Posson with 21 seconds left in the period, and returned from the locker room ready to take over in the second half.
Siena held a 45-33 advantage during the final 20 minutes of play and shot 64 percent (7-11) in the third quarter to pull ahead, scoring ten of the first 11 points of the half. Oakland used a breakaway layup to knot the game at 43 with six minutes left in the third quarter, but another Fontenelle-Posson triple just seconds later gave the Saints a lead they would not relinquish.
The Green and Gold used clutch free throw shooting in the final quarter to close out the win, matching its most free throw makes in a contest (20) since January 6, 2019, and attempting its most free shots in a game (29) since January 9, 2021. Siena shot 47 percent from the floor and 40 percent (6-15) from beyond-the-arc en-route to eclipsing 70 points for the second straight game and third time overall this year, and also won battles in rebounding (45-36), assists (13-9), and points in the paint (34-24).
A trio of three's from Fontenelle-Posson would lead her to a career-high 19 points while adding eight rebounds to lead all performers in both categories. Classmate Emina Selimovic connected on four of six shots from the field to go for a collegiate best ten points and eight boards, while sophomore Anajah Brown recorded a season-best 14 points and junior Ahniysha Jackson added 11 points and tied a career mark with four boards. The win also featured the season debut of lone Siena senior Sevval Istanbulluoglu, who played five minutes and recorded her first points since February 21, 2021 – also a Siena win (64-61 at Quinnipiac).
Siena will now look to earn its first regular season tournament title since 2002 by facing Vermont for the first time since January 1, 2007. The Catamounts become the Saints' fourth foe out of the America East Conference (UAlbany, New Hampshire, Binghamton) this season, and will look to win their home tournament for the first time since 2011.
