LOUDONVILLE, NY – After pairing an improbable blowout victory at home with an improbable shorthanded comeback victory in overtime on the road, the journey for Siena Women's Basketball will not get any easier to close out the weekend. The Saints (12-6, 6-2) return home to the friendly confines of the UHY Center to welcome in MAAC leader Iona (12-5, 7-1) for the first of two meetings between the pair on Saturday, January 21, with tip-off set for 2 PM in Loudonville.
Saturday's contest will serve as the team's annual Alumni Day, with former daughters of Siena returning to campus to cheer on the Saints. The game will also be a "Green Out for Mental Health" in partnership with The Hidden Opponent and the campuses Active Minds chapter, with fans encouraged to wear green in support of mental health awareness.
Saturday's contest can be viewed live on ESPN+, with the "Voice of the Saints" Emmanuel Berbari 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 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.
Continuing its best start to a season in 20 years and winners of six of the last seven games, Siena returns home for a battle with the MAAC's top squad on Saturday afternoon. After beginning 2023 with four of its first five contests at home, the Saints are currently in a stretch of three of the next five contests away from the UHY Center.
The Green and Gold pulled off an improbable victory with the strength of only six active players Thursday evening, taking home a 55-51 overtime victory from Fairfield which included a 13-point comeback, overcoming an 11-point halftime deficit, and winning despite the team's least amount of points scored in any half this season. Siena won its first overtime contest in nearly four years by out-scoring the Stags, 31-20, in the second half of regulation, with freshman London Gamble nailing a 12-foot jumper to tie the game at 46 with under ten seconds remaining, and sophomore Anajah Brown putting away the go-ahead low post bucket with seven seconds remaining in overtime. The team shot 47 percent from the field while collecting 49 rebounds and doing so while down to just five players for the final 15 minutes of play.
At 12-6, the Saints are off to the program's best start through 18 contests since 2002-03 (13-5), and have now matched the team's most victories in six seasons (17 in 2017-18). Siena is also 5-1 in both the month of January and any month since winning five of six games to begin January 2016. Siena has also started the year 8-2 in home contests for the first time since 2005-06, and has matched the program's best home start since 2000-01 (9-1). The Saints are taking the court at home this month for the fourth time of six scheduled home games in the month of January, marking the first time since January 2011 that the team will host six home games in a single month.
The team's most recent home action came with a win that will not soon be forgotten, with Siena routing Saint Peter's at home last Saturday to the tune of a 94-45 victory. The team crossed the 90-point threshold for the first time since 2017 and matched its highest point total in 20 years, while recording its largest margin of victory in a contest (49 pts.) since 1994 and tying the program record for three-pointers made in a game, among other superlatives Freshman Teresa Seppala turned in a career-high 24 points to record the best offensive output by a Saint thus far this season. Siena's 94 points against Saint Peter's was the highest scoring total by a MAAC team in any game since Quinnipiac hung 113 on Hartford on Nov. 28, 2021, as well as the most by a MAAC opponent against a league foe since Marist scored 96 against the Peacocks on Jan. 4, 2020.
Siena has claimed a league-best seven MAAC Rookie of the Week honors so far this season, with Seppala winning the award in each of the past two weeks. The team also did so in each of the first five weeks of the year. Freshman Elisa Mevius won Rookie of the Week honors on Nov. 14, Nov. 28, and Dec. 5, while Seppala has earned honors on Nov. 21, Dec. 12., Jan. 9, and Jan. 16. Siena has now earned both seven 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 tied for the second-most assists in a game nationally this season. She has recorded the most helps by a Siena player (77) through 16 games since 2000, and is tied for the third-most this season among all freshmen nationally.
Siena currently leads the MAAC in scoring offense (66.1), rebounding (42.8), defensive rebounds per-game (29.2), field goal percentage defense (35.4), rebound margin (+5.8), and three point percentage defense (26.7), while ranking second in scoring margin (+5.1) and steals per-game (9.1). Individually, Brown leads the league in total rebounds (139) and is second in rebounds per-game (7.7), while Mevius is second in total assists (84) and continues to boast the fifth-most helps nationally among freshmen and the most by a Saint through 18 games since 2000.
All six members of the Green and Gold got on the scoresheet in their win over Fairfield on Jan. 19, marking the tenth such occurrence for the Saints thus far this season. Seven times all eight players in a game have scored, while once all six have done so, once all nine have done so and once all ten have done so.
The Saints and the Gaels will square off for the 75th time since 1980, with Siena holding a 44-30 all-time advantage. Siena has won two of the last three in the series, with the teams splitting last year's season series. The Saints recorded their first win of the 2021-22 season with a 56-51 triumph at Iona on Jan. 10, before the Gaels got even with a 64-57 win at the UHY Center the following month. Despite losing its most recent battle with Iona at home, the Green and Gold have taken three of the last four meetings inside the UHY Center, with both meetings in last year's series decided by single digits. Historically, Siena won eight straight meetings from 2001-04, while Iona took six in a row from 2013-15.
Sitting alone at first place in the MAAC standings at 7-1, Iona enters Saturday's contest following a historic 90-62 win over Rider on Thursday, with the Gaels setting NCAA records for the most consecutive three-pointers made in a game (15), and the highest three-point field goal percentage (88.9 %). The team's only conference loss to-day came in the form of a 49-43 drop to Fairfield on Dec. 19, with Iona having won six-in-a-row since then to tie Siena for the most overall wins by a MAAC team this season. The Gaels lead the conference and are sixth nationally in three-point shooting percentage (39.6), while ranking seventh nationally in field goal percentage (48.5) and also leading the league in scoring defense (55.1), and scoring margin (+7.8). Incoming transfer Kate Mager is tops individually in the MAAC in three pointers made (52), three point shooting percentage (47.3), and three-pointers per-game (3.06), while Ketsia Athias leads the league in field goal percentage (53.2).
