By Peter Neville, Sports Reporter
The women's basketball team completed their season series against Siena, sweeping the Saints on the season after a 71-64 win, moving the Griffs to 9-6 in MAAC play and 14-10 overall.
Sporting their pink jerseys for the second game in a row, the Griffs went wire-to-wire with Siena, outlasting the Saints' comeback attempts and supplanting themselves in the driver's seat for a first-round bye in the upcoming MAAC tournament.
Senior Mackenzie Amalia and Sophomore Sisi Eleko starred for the Griffs once again, combining for 37 points and 18 rebounds, proving to be a potential duo to watch as the team heads into March.
“As the season has gone on, [Eleko] has kind of known to always be ready. Even if I'm not looking at her, I think we have built a connection together where we know we can still find each other,” said Amalia on her connection with Eleko.
After winning three out of their last four games, the Griffs look to continue their winning ways ahead of the MAAC tournament.
“We don't want to put pressure on the fact that the season is coming to a close,” said Amalia. “Just being focused on being that consistent voice and that consistent energy for my team, I know that making a big run and being consistent in the rest of MAAC play is going to be huge for us going into the tournament,” she continued.
For Siena the pair of Sophomore guards Terese Seppala and Elisa Mevius led in scoring for the Saints with 16 points and 13 points, respectively, despite the loss. It was an unusually “off” shooting night for the Saints as the Canisius defense held Siena to just 41.0% from the floor and just 19.2% from three.
The Griffs go on the road this Thursday, where they will play at the Draddy Gymnasium against Manhattan at 7:00 p.m. The Jaspers, who narrowly beat the Griffs 58-55 at the KAC earlier in the season, will enter the game tied in the standings with Canisius, with Manhattan now narrowly holding the tiebreaker over them.
Over the weekend, Canisius takes on Quinnipiac this Saturday at 2:00 p.m. at the M&T Bank Arena, where the Griffs will look to complete the season sweep of the Bobcats after winning their last matchup 69-58.
Photo courtesy of Tom Wolf