ADRIAN, Mich. -- The Siena Heights women's basketball team extended its winning streak to five with an 81-62 win over Aquinas in a Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) makeup game on Monday night. The Saints (18-5, 10-3 WHAC) achieved their 10th win in league play as they tied with Rochester for the second spot in the standings.
Sha'kyia Parker played an efficient 38 minutes for SHU in the win. She led the team in scoring with 20 points on 7-12 shooting from the floor. Peyton Banks tallied 14 points and ten rebounds to record her 10th double-double. Madison Hamilton scored 12 points and hauled in five rebounds. Anaya Powell netted 10 points while leading SHU with eight assists. E'Anna Won finished with eight points and seven rebounds.
Powell got the scoring off and running with back-to-back jumpers to give Siena the 4-0 lead in the opening 90 seconds. A three-point basket by Aquinas cut the lead to a point before Won made a jumper that sparked an 8-0 run for the hometown Saints that pushed the lead to nine with 4:37 remaining in the first. The visiting Saints then went on a 12-2 run to end the first quarter with a 15-14 lead as the game moved into the second quarter.
Banks gave the SHU Saints the lead with a layup in the opening minute, but the lead changed twice more with traded layups. A made free throw for Aquinas knotted the score at 18 before three made free throws by Parker and a bomb from beyond the arc by Banks pushed the advantage toward the Saints in blue, 24-18, with 6:26 left in the half. Two more shots from distance--one from Jilian Gelso; the other from Banks--extended the Siena advantage to 30-22 with just under five minutes remaining in the quarter. A three-point jumper by Aquinas cut the lead to five points before Powell responded with a three-point jumper that ignited a 9-0 run that finished the half and gave the home team a 39-25 lead as the teams entered the locker room.
A series of traded baskets led to a layup by Won that started another 9-0 run for the Saints in yellow and advanced the lead to 21 points with just over five left in the third frame. Another shot from beyond the three-point line started a 5-0 run and gave the SHU Saints the largest lead of the game, 63-38, with 32 ticks left in the third quarter.
With the game out of reach in the final period, the Saints maintained their advantage and held on for the double-digit win, the fifth win with a margin of over 10 points.
Up Next
The Saints finish off the month of January on the road with a matchup against the Cornerstone Golden Eagles on Saturday, January 29. The game with Cornerstone is scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m.
