LOUDONVILLE, NY – In the midst of its first 2-0 start to the month of December since the 2015-16 campaign, Siena Women's Basketball will kick off a four-game road trip with a familiar regional foe on Saturday afternoon. The Saints (5-4) head west to face Patriot League opponent Colgate (4-4) on Saturday, December 10, with tip-off set for 3 PM at Cotterell Court in Hamilton, New York.
Saturday's contest can be viewed live on ESPN+, and can be heard locally on 88.3 FM The Saint or anywhere on iHeartRadio. Pregame coverage tips off at 2:30 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.
The Saints returned home to claim wins over Dartmouth and Binghamton last weekend, with Siena taking a 75-67 win over the Big Green and a 54-50 triumph over the Bearcats. Freshman Elisa Mevius tallied 17 points to lead all scorers and classmate Teresa Seppala became the first Saint in double-digit rebounding with ten boards against Dartmouth, while sophomore Anajah Brown became the first member of the Green and Gold to turn in a double-double with a career-high 17 points and ten boards against Binghamton. The wins gave Siena back-to-back non-conference victories for the first time since the 2018-19 season.
Siena has claimed MAAC Rookie of the Week honors in each of the first four weeks to begin the 2022-23 campaign, with Mevius winning the award for the second consecutive and third total time this year after her performance against Dartmouth in the Saints lone competition last week. Seppala won Rookie of the Week honors on Nov. 21, while Mevius took home the award for the first time on Nov. 14 & Nov. 28. Siena has now earned both four 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.
The Saints are off to their best start to a season since 2014-15 (started 7-4), and have now started the year 4-2 in home contests for the first time since doing so during the 2017-18 campaign. Siena is in the midst of its longest regular season stretch away from home this season (four games), and seven of nine games from Nov. 22 - Dec. 29 outside of the Capital Region.
Siena claimed victory over Binghamton despite going 0-13 from the three-point line, marking first time since Feb. 20, 2020 that the Saints had gone quiet from beyond-the-arc, and the first time since an 84-81 overtime victory at Rider on Feb. 29, 2008 that they pulled out a win with no three's made. Additionally, Mevius scored ten of her 17 points against Dartmouth from the foul line, and went 10-12 from the charity stripe within the final minute of play to score the game's final ten points.
Siena currently leads the MAAC in field goal percentage defense (36.6), while ranking second in free throw attempts per-game (16.9), rebound margin (+1.0), offensive rebounds per-game (14.4), defensive rebounds per-game (42.44), scoring offense (65.8), steals per-game (11.1), turnover margin (2.89), and turnovers forced per-game (20.1). Individually Brown leads the MAAC in total blocks (15) and field goal percentage (58.2), while Mevius has the most free throw makes in the league at 29.
Eight different Saints have scored in double figures through the first nine games of the season, with Brown doing so in six of nine contests. Four of the six are freshmen, with Seppala (four), Mevius (four), London Gamble (two) and Angel Jones (one) all doing so.
Siena boasts arguably the youngest team in the country, with nine true freshmen, 11 total newcomers, and 13 total underclassmen out of 16 players on its roster.
With the series dating back to 1981, Siena will look to improve on an all-time 18-5 mark over the Raiders, and will look to end a two-game losing skid. The Saints came close to picking up their first win of the year over Colgate last season, but ended up falling in a 56-54 decision after squandering a ten-point first half lead. Siena will look for its first win over the Raiders since a 55-54 home triumph on Nov. 29, 2018, and is 5-4 in the series when playing at Colgate. Head Coach Jim Jabir owns a 5-1 advantage against the Raiders over his 35-year coaching tenure, with all six prior meetings coming as the head coach at Siena.
At 4-4 on the season, Colgate recently ended a three-game losing skid with a 69-51 win at NJIT on Wednesday, with sophomore Taylor Golembiewski leading the way with 15 points. The Raiders picked up an impressive early-season win over Cornell, and also defeated common opponents Niagara and UAlbany en-route to starting 3-1, but then dropped three straight contests to Canisius, Merrimack, and Harvard. With all five returning starters back under second year head coach Ganiyat Adeduntan, the Raiders are seventh nationally in three-point field goal defense, holding opponents to only 22.6 percent from three-point range, and are 11th nationally in free throw percentage at 79.4 percent.
