ADRIAN, Mich. -- The Siena Heights women's basketball team cruised to a 65-49 win over Governors State on the opening day of the annual SHU Thanksgiving Tournament. The Saints (8-1) outscored the Jaguars (4-4) 20-6 in the second quarter to pull away for the win.
Peyton Banks earned her sixth double-double of the season with a team-high 18 points and 11 rebounds. Jillian Gelso finished the game with a career-high 14 points. Gelso scored 12 of her 14 points in the second quarter. Sha'kyia Parker finished with nine points and two rebounds, while Madison Hamilton and E'Anna Won tallied seven points. Hamilton added two rebounds and an assist to her totals; Won pulled down five boards and dished two assists.
Governors State took an early 2-0 lead after two successful free throws started the scoring for the contest. Parker fought through a foul to make a layup and complete the and-one to give Siena Heights the 3-2 lead. That play sparked a 7-0 run for SHU, and the score sat at 7-2 with 6:08 remaining in the opening frame. Banks ignited a 6-0 run that increased the Saint advantage to 13-6. After each team traded three-point jumpers, Sharnita Breeze made a layup that began a 6-0 run for the Jaguars that ended the first quarter with a 16-15 score in favor of the home team.
Gelso hit the first of her three jumpers from distance to end a 5-0 run to begin the second quarter to extend the SHU lead to 21-15. Gelso made a layup and a three during a 7-0 run that ended the half with a 15-point lead for Siena Heights as the teams entered the locker room at the intermission.
Runs of 6-0 and 5-0 to start the third quarter pushed the lead to 22 points, 47-25, with just four minutes remaining in the third stanza. However, Governors State cut the advantage to 13 with a 9-0 run that spanned the final 2:08 of the quarter as the score sat at 49-36, heading into the last 10-minute period of regulation.
The lead dwindled further in the fourth quarter when a three-point jumper by Kennedy Weigt started a 7-0 run for the Jaguars that cut the Saint lead to nine points, 52-43. Siena Heights responded with seven-straight points to pull away by double-digits again with just 5:57 left in the game. Back-to-back layups for Siena Heights sealed the win for the home side.
Up Next
The Saints will finish the Thanksgiving Tournament with a 4:00 p.m. game against Shawnee State tomorrow.
