BUFFALO, NY – A shorthanded Siena squad battled but could not hold on Saturday afternoon in Buffalo. The Saints (13-10, 10-4) dropped their second contest in a two-game Western New York swing with a 71-64 loss at MAAC foe Canisius (14-10, 9-6) at the Koessler Athletic Center in Buffalo.

Playing without two-time MAAC Player of the Week Anajah Brown for the first time this season, the Green and Gold struggled to keep pace with the Golden Griffins, who completed their first regular season sweep of the Saints in ten years.

Coming off an 84-70 loss at Niagara two days earlier the Saints battled the Griffs to a tight 18-17 opening quarter in favor of the home team, which featured a pair of early buckets from sophomore London Gamble and back-to-back threes from classmate Elisa Mevius.

With five steals to counter a double-digit scoring performance, Mevius officially became the program's all-time single-season steals leader, using only 23 games to break Siena Athletics Hall of Famer Tehresa (Coles) Massena '14, HOF '23's previously high single-season mark of 98 swipes. The Redsburg, Germany native continues to rank second nationally in total steals and steals per-game.

Steadied by a monster performance from sophomore Sisi Eleko, The Golden Griffins held a four-point edge at the half, and built up a double-digit lead with 1:17 remaining in the third despite a third three on the day from Mevius putting the Saints within two – 34-32 – earlier in the period.

Siena forced a definitive 26 points off 22 Canisius turnovers, but could not stop the home team from punching in 18 assists and could not slow down Eleko from collecting a league-high 13^th double-double this season.

Led by a second half explosion from freshman Alden Yergey, the Saints cut the lead back down to five three times during the fourth quarter, and used a seven-point run to make it a one-point game with 32 second remaining. Canisius executed a drive to the rim, however, while the league's worst free-throw shooting team entering the day went 16-19 from the stripe to add.

Canisius held a 40-29 advantage on the glass and shot 45.5 percent from the floor while snapping Siena's streak of nine straight games with 70 or more points. The Saints still managed 41 percent from the floor to go over 40 for the 12^th straight contest.

The Saints finished with four players in double-figures in the loss, with sophomore Teresa Seppala logging 16 points, Mevius finishing with 13 points and seven boards to complement her record, Yergey tying a career-best with 13 points, and Gamble adding ten first half tallies.

Siena will wrap up a stretch of facing four straight teams inside the top half of the league when it hosts nationally-recognized Fairfield at the UHY Center on Thursday, February 22 at 7 PM. The Stags – who are receiving votes in both national polls and are effectively 27^th in the AP Top-25 poll – have the potential to be the first ranked program to face the Saints on their home court since 2012. Click Here for tickets.

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