ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The Siena Heights women's basketball team suffered its first 2021-22 season defeat in a low-scoring battle with Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) opponent Concordia (Mich.) inside Cardinal Fieldhouse on Wednesday night. The Saints (5-1, 2-1 WHAC) struggled offensively, shooting just 34% from the floor in the contest.
Sha'kyia Parker led Siena Heights with 20 points in the losing effort. Parker finished the game 8-13 from the floor, 2-7 from deep, and 2-2 from the free-throw line. Eva Alcock netted eight points off the bench, while Peyton Banks tallied her lowest total points this year with six.
The Saints began the game with a 13-2 start in the first 7:42 of play. The Cardinals didn't score their first field goal until there were just 22 seconds left in the opening quarter, as the margin was 13-4 after the first 10 minutes.
Anaya Powell hit a free throw in the second that pushed the Saint advantage to 12 points before Concordia cut the lead to 18-13 following a 7-0 run with 4:01 left in the half. However, SHU responded with a 5-0 run to bring the advantage up to 23-13 with just over two minutes left before the intermission. The Cardinals hit one more bucket before the teams entered the locker with a score of 23-15.
CUAA earned the first four points of the third to cut the deficit to 23-19 before a three-point jumper, and a layup brought the Cardinals within one point of tying, 25-24, and forced Siena to take a 30-second timeout. A layup by the home side out of the break capped a 7-0 run and gave Concordia (Mich.) its first lead of the game, 26-25, with 6:05 left in the third stanza. However, Parker hit back-to-back layups, and Alcock made one of her two free-throw attempts to reclaim the lead at 30-26 with 3:34 remaining in the third. The Saint lead climbed to eight points with 1:53 left, and a free throw moved it down to seven, 35-28 as the game moved into the final quarter.
Two free throws by the Cardinals in the opening minute were the only points put on the board for the first three minutes and change before E'Anna Won made a three-point jumper to give Siena the 38-30 lead with 6:09 left to play. Two free throws and a layup brought CUAA to 38-34. SHU held a 42-35 lead with two minutes left to play, but a jumper and two sets of free throws gave Concordia (Mich.) just a one-point margin to overcome. A layup by the Cardinals with eight ticks remaining gave the home squad a 43-42 lead, and Banks missed a game-winning jumper from three as time expired.
Up Next
Siena Heights returns home to host Cornerstone in a WHAC contest this Saturday, November 20, at 5:00 p.m.
