LOUDONVILLE, NY (NEWS10) — The 24th edition of Siena Women’s Basketball’s Pink Zone game was one to remember. While Siena topped the visiting Marist Red Foxes 62-46 to improve to 7-3 in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Play, a pair of Saints reached major program milestones in the friendly confines of the UHY Center. Teresa Seppala became the 31st player to join the 1,000-point club, and Anajah Brown became the eighth player to reach 100 career blocks.
Brown finished the night with a team-high 17 points (8-14 FG, 101 FT), nine rebounds, and tied a season-best six steals. Seppala drained 16 points (5-10 FG, 2-4 3PT, 4-4 FT) to go with four boards and three assists, while Ahniysha Jackson added 14 points on 6-12 shooting from the floor.
Siena’s (10-9, 7-3 MAAC) seven turnovers were the fewest the team committed in a game this season, and the first time the Green and Gold committed single digits. The team’s six blocks also tied a single-game season high, while the 46 points allowed were the team’s fewest this year.
Morgan Lee posted a 19-point, 11-rebound double-double for Marist (11-9, 6-4 MAAC). No other Red Fox scored in double-figures
The Red Foxes stormed out to an 8-0 lead through the opening 4:30 – converting on two of their first four shots from deep while holding Siena empty on four looks. The Saints weathered their early deficit, scoring each of the next six points over the ensuing three minutes with buckets by Seppala, Jackson, and Myriam Traore. Despite seven team fouls – including three on Jackson and two on Seppala – the Saints remained within two at the end of the first, 13-11.
Siena began the second on an 8-2 run fueled by four points from Brown, as the team hit four of its first five shots from the floor. As the quarter progressed, Marist kicked into gear – scoring 10 of the game’s next 13 points to take a three-point edge with 2:41 to play. However, over the final few minutes of action the Siena defense kept the Red Foxes off the board and, with a pair of buckets by Brown and one by KB Hadley, went into halftime ahead, 28-25.
Each side attempted just three shots from the floor through the first six minutes of play in the second half – both hitting two. The difference up to that point came on a Jackson three-point bucket that helped grow the Saints’ lead to five with four minutes to play in the third.
While the Saints eventually ended the frame ahead 47-39, the shining moment came with 3:03 left when Seppala drained a corner three – giving the team an eight-point lead and becoming the 31st player to join the program’s 1,000-point club.
Siena showed no signs of slowing down in the fourth, out-scoring Marist 15-7 over the final 10 minutes of play. The Saints held Marist to just 2-10 shooting in the quarter while going 7-14 from the field themselves to help bring the game to a close.
Siena travels to Hamden, CT Saturday for a 2 p.m. contest against Quinnipiac for what is the first of two consecutive road games for the team.
