LOUDONVILLE, NY – Off to its best start to league play in seven years, Siena Women's Basketball looks to keep winning as it heads south for its second Kids Day affair of the 2022-23 season. The Saints (10-5, 4-1) travel to Manhattan (5-10, 2-4) for an 11 AM tip-off on Thursday, January 12 at Draddy Gymnasium in Riverdale, New York.
Thursday's contest can be viewed live on ESPN3 with Jason Guerette and Chris Williams on the call and can be heard locally on 88.3 FM The Saint or anywhere on iHeartRadio. Pregame coverage tips off at 10:30 a.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.
Winners in each of its last four, seven of its last eight, eight of its last ten, and nine of its last 12 games, Siena Women's Basketball retakes the road following a perfect three-game home stand in search of matching its longest win streak in six years. Continuing to match its best start to a season in 20 years, the Saints are 4-1 in MAAC play for the first time since starting a perfect 5-0 in league action during the 2015-16 campaign. Siena has started the year 7-2 in home contests for the first time since 2005-06, when it won seven of its first nine home matchups. The Saints have also tallied the most overall wins in the MAAC this season as the first squad to get to double-digit dubs.
Siena will take the court at a Kids Day game for the second time this season after claiming victory in its on Kids Day contest on January 5 to the tune of a 61-46 win over Fairfield. The Saints will look for a win against Manhattan on their Kids Day for the second straight time, following a 59-49 victory at Draddy Gymnasium on Feb. 6, 2020.
The Saints won their third straight contest to kick off the new year in comeback fashion, taking a 74-67 victory over Marist on Jan. 7. Siena turned in a season-long run of 18 consecutive points between the second and third quarters of the game while completing a season-best 14-point comeback and turning in its best shooting percentage in a quarter (66.7, 8-12) this season. Siena connected on its most three-pointers (12) as a team since Jan. 11, 2020 (13) at Canisius, and recorded its most assists in a game since Jan. 24, 2019 (24) against Saint Peter's. Additionally, the team marked its best shooting quarter of the season thus far, marking eight of 12 shot attempts (66.7 percent) during the second quarter of play.
One game after recording a collegiate-best 13 rebounds, freshman Teresa Seppala went for a career-best 19 points in the win over the Red Foxes, which helped her pick up her third and the team's sixth MAAC Rookie of the Week honor of the season. 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 Seppala earned honors on Nov. 21 & Dec. 12. Siena has now earned both six MAAC weekly awards and 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.
Mevius nearly re-wrote the Siena record book with an outstanding 14-assist performance against Marist, putting her one help off the program single-game record, and making her the first Saint to cross the double-digit assist threshold in a game in a decade. Mevius' performance is now tied for the second-most assists in a game nationally this season, and gives her the most helps (71) through 15 games by a Siena player in the 2000's.
All eight members of the Green and Gold got on the scoresheet in the win over the Red Foxes, marking the seventh such occurrence for the Saints thus far this season. Six times all eight players in a game have scored, while once all nine have done so.
Siena currently leads the MAAC in scoring offense (65.9), field goal percentage defense (35.5), rebounds per-game (42.9), defensive rebounds per-game (28.7), and three-point defense (26.3). Individually, sophomore Anajah Brown leads the league in total rebounds (119), while ranking second in total blocks (23), and rebounds per-game (7.9). Mevius is now second in total assists (71) and third in assists per-game (4.7).
The Saints enter their 73rd all-time meeting with the Jaspers, with Siena holding a 47-25 advantage in the series. Siena has won two of the last three over Manhattan after taking a 53-47 victory on January 15, 2022 as part of last year's season-best five game winning streak. The Jaspers would even the season series with a 69-61 home victory on February 14, 2022, despite a 23-point comeback from the Saints to even the game in the final minutes of play. Junior Ahniysha Jackson went in double-figures in the first meeting with 11 points. The Saints will have a chance to defeat Manhattan as part of a five-game win streak for the third time in the last four meetings on Thursday, with Siena claiming a 59-49 victory on February 6, 2020 at Draddy Gymnasium. That win came on Manhattan's Kids Day, while the previous meeting - an 80-50 Jasper victory at Siena - came during the Saints Kids Day contest in 2020.
Picked to finish second in the MAAC Preseason Coaches Poll after falling in least year's MAAC Title Game, Manhattan has lost three-in-a-row and has only won at home thus far this season. The Jaspers have yet to win a game in the new year after falling at Marist (56-43) and at Fairfield (52-50) last weekend. Led by MAAC Preseason Player of the Year Dee Dee Davis, Manhattan leads the conference in both blocks per-game (4.3) and rebound margin (+5.1), while Davis is the league's top rebounder (8.5) to go with 14.2 points per-game. Davis is the only player in the MAAC this season and one of only 16 nationally to have recorded a triple-double, doing so in the form of 13 points, 13 rebounds, and ten assists against LIU on December 22.
