Saints Took Down Defending MAAC Champion Fairfield to Win Third Straight
Siena Women’s Basketball welcomed a crowd of 1,716 into the UHY Center and continued to thrive to continue a three-game homestand. The Saints (9-5, 3-1) marked the return of their annual Kids Day contest with a 61-46 win over defending MAAC champion Fairfield (7-6. 3-1), who suffered its first conference loss of the season.
The win marked the third straight and the sixth in the last seven contests for the Green and Gold, who continue to match the program’s best start to a season in 20 years. Siena welcomed in its largest home crowd since February 2020, and snapped Fairfield’s streak of 19 straight wins against league opponents, including 16 during regular season play. Both of the Stags’ two MAAC losses over the last two years have come at the hands of the Saints in Loudonville, with Siena locking up the first consecutive home ins in the series since the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons.
En-route to holding Fairfield’s MAAC-leading offense to a season-low 46 points, the Saints got out to a 14-11 advantage in the first quarter before holding the Stags to just five second quarter points, marking the least points allowed by the Saints both in a quarter and in a half (16) this season. After making the first two buckets of the second period, Fairfield converted just a single free throw for the remaining 8:35, with the Saints causing a scoreless period of 7:51 and embarking on a 16-1 run over that time.
After taking a 14-point lead into the second half, the Saints led by as many as 16 with 9:03 remaining in the third quarter, but allowed Fairfield to go on a 7-0 run and eventually come back within six points, trailing 37-31 with 1:55 remaining in the period.
The last bucket of the third quarter and the first of the fourth came from sophomore Emina Selimovic as part of 13 second half points, with the Saints again building out the lead as large as 16 points and not allowing Fairfield to come back within seven. Selimovic led all scorers with a career-high 19 points for her third straight game in double-figure scoring, while adding eight boards and a steal in 29 minutes.
The Saints followed up Sunday’s season-high 48 percent shooting mark by shooting 47.2 percent from the field and out-rebounding the Stags, 41-36, to cross the 40-board threshold for the seventh straight game. Siena held an opponent under 50 points for the second time in three games, with freshman Teresa Seppala recording a career-high 13 rebounds and freshman Elisa Mevius joining junior Ahniysha Jackson in adding nine points each.
Fairfield saw a pair of players finish with double-digit scoring, including 16 points from junior Janelle Brown and ten from graduate student Andrea Hernangomez. Graduate student Callie Cavanaugh – who entered the contest leading the MAAC in scoring at over 17 points per-game – was limited to eight points and ten rebounds.
After improving to 6-2 at home his season, Siena will look to continue its best start to home play since winning six of its first eight home games during the 2009-10 campaign on Saturday, January 7. The Saints will host I-87 rival Marist at the UHY Center, with tip-off set for 2 PM. Saturday’s contest will serve as “Meet The Team Day” with the team signing postgame autographs following the game. Click here for tickets.
Courtesy: Siena
