LOUDONVILLE, NY – Winners of its last three games and having already locked up its postseason fate, Siena women's Basketball will look to close out the 2023-24 regular season on a high note in road action. The Saints (16-11, 13-6) will aim for a regular season sweep over Rider (9-18, 6-12) on Thursday, March 7 at Alumni Gymnasium in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, with tip-off set for 5 PM.

Thursday's contest can be viewed on ESPN+, with Jon Mozes and Maren Walseth on the call, and can be heard locally on 88.3 FM The Saints or anywhere on iHeartRadio. Pregame coverage tips off at 4:30 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.

The Saints closed out home play with a 9-4 record thanks to a 65-56 win over Mount St. Mary's last Saturday on Senior Night. The team overcame a halftime deficit for only the second time this season, with freshman Alden Yergey hitting a go-ahead three with 1:45 remaining to get the home team up for good. Sophomore Teresa Seppala recorded a monster double-double of 23 points and a career-high 16 rebounds, while Yergey went for a career-high 13 points, senior Ahniysha Jackson added 13 points and sophomore Elisa Mevius went for 11 points.

Seppala gave the program its first back-to-back MAAC Player of the Week honors since 2002 by taking home her second straight MAAC Player of the Week on March 4. She averaged a double-double of 20.5 points and 13.5 rebounds to help the Saints to home wins over Marist and Mount St. Mary's. The week included recording the most rebounds in a game by a Siena player (16) in two years against The Mount. After averaging 24 points over two games, Seppala took home her first collegiate MAAC Player of the Week honors on Feb. 26, marking the program's first campaign with multiple MAAC Player of the Week honorees since the 2016-17 season. The Tempere, Finland native went for a career-high 29 points on Feb. 22 against Fairfield, while adding 19 points at Saint Peter's two days later.

Siena has now locked up a first round bye in the MAAC Championship for the third time in as many seasons under head coach Jim Jabir, and will be the No. 3 seed for the first time since 2018. The program has compiled back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since the 2002-03 and 2003-04 campaigns. The Green and Gold have also recorded five regular season sweeps for the second straight year, and will look to get to six for what would be just the eighth time in program history and the first since 2003-04.

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. She continues to rank second nationally in both total steals and steals per-game, and is now second in MAAC history in single-season swipes, just two away from the record.

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.

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 ten times this season. Siena has had at least one player finish in double-figure scoring in 134 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 junior Anajah 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 (4.33), and in total steals (117), and 33rd nationally in minutes per-game (35.73). The Rendsburg, Germany native also now leads the league in both assists per-game (4.8) and total assists (130). Brown leads the league in both blocks per-game (1.68) and is second in total blocks (37).

Siena and Rider are set to meet for the 57^th time since 1998, with the Saints holding a 39-17 all-time advantage in the series. Having won the last four and six of the last seven meetings, Siena matched its season high for points scored with a 79-58 win in the first matchup of the season on January 18. Brown led the way with a double-double of 21 points and 13 rebounds, while Mevius turned in 16 points and seven steals, and sophomore London Gamble just missed out on a double-double with 15 points and nine boards. The Saints also matched their season-high for field goals made in a game with 31 and held a definitive 45-28 rebound advantage. Head coach Jim Jabir is 4-1 all-time against the Broncs, with all five meetings coming as head coach at Siena.  

Led by 17^th year head coach Lynn Milligan, Rider is also locked into their seeding, and will be the No. 8 seed in next week's MAAC Championship. The Broncs won four straight games over Manhattan, Iona, Saint Peter's and Marist before being swept by Niagara and Canisius last weekend in Buffalo. Taylor Langan ranks second in the MAAC in rebounds per-game (8.6) and third in scoring (14.4), as well as fourth in total rebounds and fourth in field goal percentage (43.9). Both Langan (19 points, ten rebounds) and Makayla Firebaugh (18 points) finished in double figures during the first meeting between the schools.