LOUDONVILLE, NY – Siena Women's Basketball will look to keep building momentum after completing its winningest calendar year since 2017 and ending 2022 with four wins in five games. Following a stretch of six of eight contests away from the Capital Region to end the year, the Saints (7-5, 1-1) begin a three-game home stand by hosting MAAC foe Canisius (5-7, 2-1) on Sunday, January 1 at the UHY Center, with tip-off set for 1 PM.
Sunday's contest can be viewed live on ESPN+ with Kelly O'Donnell and Brian Rubino on the call, and can be heard locally on 88.3 FM The Saint or anywhere on iHeartRadio. Pregame coverage tips off at 12:30 p.m., with 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.
Siena Athletics will ring in the new year by presenting the first 100 fans through the door with a free Siena Saints scarf. Come early for your chance to battle the Upstate New York winter season in style with shades of Green and Gold around your neck! Visit SienaSaints.com/Tickets to reserve your spot for Sunday's game.
Having matched the program's best start through 12 games in 20 years, Siena turns the page to 2023 and plays on New Year's Day for the fourth time in program history. Siena went 5-3 during a stretch of six of eight contests away from home from Nov. 22 - Dec. 29, including a season-long three-game win streak from Dec. 3-10. The Saints went 4-1 during the month of December, turning in its best performance in the last month of the year since December 2005 (5-1). The team also won three consecutive non-conference contests for the first time in eight years.
The Saints will aim to end a three-game losing skid in MAAC home openers and get their first win to open home conference play since 2019. Siena has started the year 4-2 in home contests for the first time since doing so during the 2017-18 campaign.
The Green and Gold got back in the win column to end 2022 with a 68-44 rout at Rider on Dec. 29, marking the second consecutive year that the team held the Broncs to exactly 44 points in their home gym. Siena shot 41 percent from the field and 7-16 from beyond-the-arc while limiting Rider to nine points in two separate quarters, with sophomore Emina Selimovic recording a near double-double with a career-high 16 points and nine rebounds. Selimovic was joined in double-figure scoring by junior Ahniysha Jackson (13 pts, 9 reb.), sophomore Anajah Brown (11 pts, 8 reb.), and freshman London Gamble (11 pts).
While continuing the reign as the top rebounding team in the league, Siena grabbed 53 boards at Rider on Dec. 29, matching last year's rebounding performance at Rider on Jan. 20, 2021 for the most rebounds in a single game since Nov. 27, 2015 at Navy (63). The Saints' best single-game rebound performances in each of the last three seasons have all come when playing the Broncs.
Siena currently leads the MAAC in field goal percentage defense (35.5), rebounds per-game (43.75, and defensive rebounds per-game (29.2), while ranking second in rebound margin (+3.8), offensive rebounds per-game (14.5), scoring margin (+2.6), scoring offense (65.1), steals per-game (9.6), and three-point defense (27.1). Individually, Brown leads the MAAC in field goal percentage (58.7), blocks (19), and total rebounds (98), while ranking second in rebounds per-game (8.2), and blocks per-game (1.58). Mevius steadies the league in free throw percentage (80.0).
All eight members of the Green and Gold got on the scoresheet in the road win over Rider on Dec. 29, marking the fifth such occurrence for the Saints thus far this season. Four times all eight players in a game have scored, while once all nine have done so.
Siena claimed MAAC Rookie of the Week honors in each of the first five weeks to begin the 2022-23 campaign. Freshman Elisa Mevius won Rookie of the Week honors on Nov. 14, Nov. 28, and Dec. 5, while classmate Teresa Seppala earned honors on Nov. 21 & Dec. 12. Siena has now earned both five MAAC weekly awards and four MAAC Rookie of the Week honors in a single season since the 2014-15 season, when it captured 13 total weekly honors and then-freshman Margot Hetzke won MAAC Rookie of Week accolades nine times.
Entering its 82nd meeting with the Golden Griffins, the Saints own a 55-26 all-time advantage, with the series beginning back in 1980. Siena has taken six of the last seven and 12 of the last 14 meetings with its most commonly-played opponent, with the teams splitting the season series last year. The Saints rebounded from an 81-78 loss in Buffalo on Jan. 29, 2022 where they shot 59 percent from the field but allowed a Canisius program record 15 three-pointers to take a 56-54 decision at the UHY Center on Feb. 24. Jackson put up a career-high 21 points in the most recent meeting, but is the only current Saint who played in that game.
Canisius is one of two programs (Niagara) that Siena has collected 50 or more wins over in its history, with the Golden Griffins holding the dubious honor of having been beaten by Siena more than any other Saints foe since 1974. The Saints have won six straight meetings at home dating back to 2015, and also defeated its MAAC rival in the first round of the 2020 MAAC Tournament by way of a 58-48 win in Atlantic City.
Picked alongside the Saints to finish ninth in the MAAC Preseason Coaches' Poll, Canisius started 2-0 in MAAC play with home wins over Rider and Marist before falling at Manhattan on Thursday afternoon. The Griffs led by as many as ten points in the game and by nine with seven minutes in the fourth quarter, but could not overcome a late surge from the Jaspers and fell, 73-68. Junior Dani Haskell – who ranks seventh in the MAAC in scoring the season with 13.7 points per-game – turned in 24 points. Canisius boasts the only non-Siena player to garner MAAC Rookie of the Week honors thus far this season in the form of freshman Sisi Eleko, while graduate student Vanessa Garrelts was named the MAAC Player of the Week on Dec. 19. The Golden Griffins enter the contest as the league's top free-throw shooting team, boasting a 75.8 percentage at the charity stripe.
