ADRIAN, Mich. -- The Siena Heights women's basketball team survived a huge comeback push by Rochester to pull off a 79-69 win over the Warriors on Saturday evening. The Saints (17-5, 9-3 WHAC) held onto the lead after Rochester rallied from 30-points down to trim the lead to just four in the second half.
Peyton Banks netted 22 points to lead SHU to the win. Her point total also pushed her past the 1,500 career-point threshold as she is just the sixth Siena Heights women's basketball player to reach 1,500 points. Banks also grabbed eight rebounds and a steal in the winning effort. Sha'kyia Parker was just three assists shy of a double-double as she finished with 18 points for the second-best scoring tally for the home team. Eva Alcock had a career day with 17 points and nine rebounds. This was the first double-digit scoring effort of her collegiate career. E'Anna Won hauled in 15 rebounds and dished six assists in support. Anaya Powell recorded nine points, six assists, and five steals.
The game started with the teams trading 5-0 runs in the opening four minutes of play that saw the Warriors hold a 10-5 advantage. A jumper by Eva Alcock ignited a 9-0 run for Siena, and the Saints jumped ahead 15-12 with 2:56 remaining in the quarter. A three by Rochester knotted things up before two free throws by Banks and three by Powell gave the Saints the 20-15 edge as time expired.
Banks hit a three in the opening two minutes, which extended the lead to seven points, 25-18. Then, Alcock struck again with back-to-back layups that sparked a huge 21-0 run that spanned the final 6:14 of the half and gave SHU the 48-20 lead as the teams entered the locker room at the half.
Alcock put herself into the fray again with a layup that earned the game's largest lead, 52-22, with 8:09 left to play in the third stanza. From there, Rochester began battling back with the "death by 1,000 cuts" strategy. Runs of 5-0 and 7-0 cut the deficit to 19 as the contest went into the fourth quarter.
A layup started the final 10-minutes of play with an 11-0 run for Rochester, and just like that, the margin was back to single digits (64-56) with 6:27 remaining in regulation. Siena then scored the following five points to creep back into a double-digit lead, 69-56, with just under five minutes remaining. A 9-0 for the Warriors put the pressure on the Saints as the score sat at 71-67 with only 2:15 left to play. A clutch layup by Banks led to another and a 6-0 run during the final two minutes gave SHU the 77-67 lead. The teams traded points in the closing seconds, but the complete comeback by Rochester was just short.
UP NEXT
The Saints will get a day off before meeting with Aquinas on Monday, January 24, for a WHAC makeup game inside the SHU Fieldhouse. The contest is scheduled to begin at 7:00 PM.
