NEW ROCHELLE, NY– After winning back-to-back home contests to end a three-game home stand, Siena Women's Basketball embarks on a stretch of four of its final five regular season contests away from home by heading to New Rochelle to face MAAC frontrunner Iona Thursday morning. The Saints (16-9, 10-5) will battle the Gaels (18-5, 13-1) for the second time this season on Thursday, February 16, with tip-off set for 11 AM at the Hynes Athletics Center in New Rochelle.
Thursday's contest can be viewed live on ESPN3 and can be heard locally on 88.3 FM The Saint or anywhere on iHeartRadio. Pregame coverage tips off at 10:30 AM, 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 enter a new week after taking a season split with Manhattan by way of a 75-65 win last Thursday, and claiming an 83-81 win over Niagara in thrilling fashion on Saturday. Siena held a 20-point lead just before the half on the Purple Eagles, but lost the advantage for the first time off a go-ahead left side layup from MAAC scoring leader Angel Parker with 4.4 seconds remaining. Following an in-bound on the right baseline from freshman Angel Jones, classmate Elisa Mevius pranced up the court and threw up a 55-foot heave at the buzzer, which went in to secure a Green and Gold victory. The play received national attention and came in at #2 on that evening's SportsCenter Top Ten Plays.
The performance was just the cherry on top to a fantastic week for action for Mevius, who recorded career-highs in scoring in both games. The Grunberg, Germany native went for 24 points against the Jaspers and 26 against the Purple Eagles, allowing her to become the first player in MAAC and program history to receive Player and Rookie of the Week honors in the same week.
Siena has now claimed 11 of the 14 total MAAC Rookie of the Week honors handed out so far this season, with Mevius having done so four times (Nov. 14, Nov. 28, Dec. 5, Feb. 13). The team also did so in each of the first five weeks of the year. Classmate Teresa Seppala has earned Rookie of the Week honors on Nov. 21, Dec. 12., Jan. 9, Jan. 16, Jan 23, Jan. 30, and Feb. 6. Siena has now earned 12 MAAC weekly awards in a single season for the first time 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. Eleven total MAAC Rookie of the Week accolades equals the most in a single campaign in program history, with Seppala ranking second for the most individual rookie honors won.
Siena went 27-32 at the free throw line during last Saturday's win, matching the most free throws made in a game since Jan. 28, 2017 (30 at Monmouth) and the most attempted in a game since Nov. 13, 2018 (at Sacred Heart, 37). The team has now recorded back-to-back games with more than 20 free throws made after completing 25 in last Thursday's victory over Manhattan.
At 11-4 at home this season, the Saints have matched the most home victories in a single season since the 2002-03 campaign (12).
Siena currently leads the MAAC in scoring offense (68.7) and defensive rebounds per-game (27.3), while ranking second in assists per-game (14.2), field goal percentage (41.4), rebound margin (+5.4), rebounds per-game (41.2), steals per-game (9.6), and three-point percentage (31.9). Individually, sophomore Anajah Brown leads the league in total rebounds (180) and rebounds per-game (7.8), while Mevius is second in free throw percentage (83.5). Brown's 34 blocks so far this season has her four away from entering the program's single-season top-ten list.
The Saints and the Gaels will battle for the 76th time since 1980, with Siena owning a 44-31 all-time advantage in the series. The Saints and the Gaels went toe-to-toe at the UHY Center in the first meeting of the season on Jan. 21, with Iona edging out a 68-66 victory on a go-ahead pull-up jumper from graduate student Juana Camilion with 30 seconds remaining. The Gaels shot 44 percent from the field and got 20-point performances from Camilion (21) and three-point threat Kate Mager (20), who made all six shots from the field from long-range. Siena got 17 points from freshman Seppala and a double-double from Brown (10-10). Iona has now taken back-to-back series meetings, but the Saints took the last win in New Rochelle, with their 56-51 triumph last season marking their first victory of the 2021-22 campaign. Siena seeks back-to-back road wins over the Gaels for the first time since claiming three-in-a-row from 2017-19.
Currently holding a game-and-a-half lead in the MAAC standings, the Gaels have strung together twelve straight wins, which is tied for the sixth-longest streak nationally. The team's last loss came in the form of a 49-43 defeat at Fairfield on Dec. 19, 2022, which also served as its only MAAC falter to-date. Iona is second nationally in three-point percentage (40.6), seventh nationally in field goal percentage (48.0), and also leads the league in assists per-game (14.6), and scoring margin (+8.9). The Gaels boast two-time MAAC Player of the Week Camilion (15.5 PPG), the second-best three-point shooter nationally in Mager (49.7, 3.3 per-game), and the MAAC's top shot-blocker in Ketsia Athias (37).
