LOUDONVILLE, NY – After battling on its Western New York trip last week, Siena Women's Basketball is set to begin a stretch of three of its final five regular season contests at home with a huge conference showdown. The Saints (13-10, 10-5) will face off against RV/RV Fairfield (21-1, 14-0) at the UHY Center on Thursday, February 22 at 7 PM, marking the program's first home game against a team nationally ranked or receiving national votes in 11 years.   

Tickets to Thursday's game can be purchased by clicking the corresponding link or in-person at the UHY Center. The Siena Fan Relations Management Center is on-hand to handle all ticket-related inquiries, and can be reached by phone at (518) 487-2202 or by e-mail at sienatickets2@siena.edu. For all Siena Basketball ticket-related information, log onto sienasaints.com/tickets.

Thursday's Game will serve as the program's Equality and Inclusion Game, with fans encouraged to wear black to "black out" the UHY Center.

Thursday's contest can be viewed 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 Saints or anywhere on iHeartRadio. Pregame coverage tips off at 1:30 PM, with the radio "Voice of the Saints" 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 X page @Siena_WBB. Join the conversation by using the hashtags #MarchOn, #SienaSaints, and #MAACHoops.

After seeing their longest win streak in 21 years come to a close, the Saints dropped a 71-64 contest at Canisius last Saturday to end their Western New York swing, playing without junior forward Anajah Brown for the first time this season. Siena recorded less than 70 points in a game for the first time in the last ten contests but still finished with four players in double figures. Sophomore Teresa Seppala led the way with 16 points, while sophomore Elisa Mevius was joined in scoring 13 points by freshman Alden Yergey - who went for a career high. Sophomore London Gamble also went for ten points.

Mevius used only 23 games on the season to set the program single-season record for steals, surpassing Siena Athletics Hall of Fame member Tehresa Coles '14, HOF '23 on Feb. 17 at Canisius with her 99th steal of the year.

The Green and Gold started 7-3 in the MAAC in consecutive seasons for the first time since the 2001-02 and 2002-03 campaigns, and started 10-3 in the league for the first time since the 2002-03 campaign. The Saints won seven straight games from Jan 18 - Feb. 10 for the first time since winning ten-in-a-row during the 2002-03 season, which marks the program's most recent appearance in the MAAC Championship Game.

The team also recorded 70 points or more in nine straight games from Jan. 18 - Feb. 15, which tied for the program's second-longest streak and is the longest since a record ten straight games of doing so during the 1994-95 season. The Green and Gold have shot 40 percent or better from the floor in 12 straight games.

After recording a career-high 33 points on February 8 at Iona, Brown took home her second MAAC Player of the Week award on February 12, becoming the first Siena player to win multiple MAAC Player of the Week awards since the 2016-17 season. No Siena player has won three MAAC Player of the Week awards in a single season since Siena Athletics Hall of Fame member Laura Menty '08, HOF '12 did so during the 2007-08 campaign. Brown's 33-point outburst against Iona on February 8 was good for only the 15th single-game performance of 33 points or more in program history, and just the fourth this millennium. It was the first single-game output of 33 points since 2017, and the second 30-point performance by a Saint this season.

Siena won four games by 18 points or more from January 18 - February 1, marking the first time the team has held that large of a victory margin in four straight games since the 1990-91 season, and only the fifth time in program history.  The Saints also won three straight home games by 20 or more points for the first time since the 2001-02 season from Jan. 18 - Feb. 1.

After averaging a double-double on the week, Brown earned both her first career MAAC weekly award and the team's first accolade of the season when she was named the MAAC Player of the Week on January 22. The Norristown, Pennsylvania product finished off a stretch of double-doubles in three straight games for the second time in her collegiate career, also doing so Dec. 5-19 of 2022.

The team featured nine in the scoring column in a home win over Quinnipiac on February 14, marking the second time this season nine players have scored in a game. The team has had eight or more players score in a game nine times this season. Siena has had at least one player finish in double-figure scoring in 131 straight contests dating back to a 52-48 loss at Manhattan on 2/3/19.

Continuing the program's 50^th varsity season, Mevius and Brown continue to rank at or near the top of the MAAC and among the national leaders in multiple statistical categories. Mevius leads the league and is second nationally in steals per-game (4.3), and in total steals (102), and 40th nationally in minutes per-game (35.1). The Rendsburg, Germany native also now leads the league in assists per-game (4.5) and is second in the MAAC in total assists (105). Brown leads the league in both blocks per-game (1.68) and total blocks (37). Mevius is tied for the second-most assists by a Siena player through 23 games in the last 23 years, while Brown owns the second-most blocks over that time.

Fairfield heads to Loudonville for the 86^th all-time meeting in the series, with Siena holding a 49-36 advantage since 1987. Siena took the Stags to the brink in the first matchup of the season in Connecticut, with the Saints wiping away an 18-point halftime deficit to make it a two-point game with 2:28 to play, but the home team survived the upset scare. Seppala led the way with 22 points, while Brown recorded a monster double-double of 18 points and 14 rebounds, and Mevius added six points, ten rebounds and Eight assists. Siena has still won three of the last four and four of the last six matchups after claiming victory in all three meetings last season, including in the MAAC Quarterfinals. The Saints have also won each of the last two matchups at the UHY Center. Head Coach Jim Jabir is 9-2 all-time vs. Fairfield, including 7-2 while coach at Siena.

Led by second-year head coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis, Fairfield has won 20 straight contests and is second amongst teams receiving votes in the Associated Press Women's Basketball Top-25 Poll, as well as seventh in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top-25 Poll. Thibault-DuDonis has been named to the 2024 Kathy Delaney-Smith Mid-Major Coach of the Year Midseason Watch List, while freshman Meghan Andersen is the first freshman ever to be named to the Becky Hammond Mid-Major Player of the Year Midseason Watch List. Andersen is a nine-time MAAC Rookie of the Week, Two-Time MAAC Player of the Week, and currently ranks second in the league in scoring (15.9 PPG). The Stags lead the MAAC in scoring offense (73.0), scoring defense (53.2), scoring margin (+19.8), field goal percentage (47.0), field goal defense (35.2), and assists per-game (17.5).