GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- The Siena Heights women's basketball team marched past Cornerstone in a 69-55 win on Saturday afternoon. The Saints (19-5, 11-3 WHAC) have extended their winning streak to six straight with the victory today.
Sha'kyia Parker had her first 30-point performance of her career as she shot 11-19 from the floor to finish the afternoon with an even 30 points in the win. Eva Alcock was the only other Saint in double-digits for points with 13 off the bench. E'Anna Won had a game-high 14 rebounds while also scoring eight points. Peyton Banks finished with seven points and eight rebounds.
Siena got things going with three-point shots from Parker and Banks that started a 7-0 run that gave the Saints a 7-1 lead in the opening four minutes of play. The Golden Eagles responded with a 5-0 run to cut the deficit to one point, 7-6, with little more than 5:30 remaining in the first quarter. Back-to-back layups by Alcock started an 8-0 run for the visitors as SHU extended the lead to 15-6. Cornerstone's four free throws wrapped the first quarter with a 15-10 lead for Siena Heights.
The Golden Eagles struggled to make a basket as they shot 1-6 in the opening four minutes of the second. At the 5:48 mark, a layup ignited a 9-0 run for Cornerstone that gave the home team the slimmest of leads, 21-20. The teams traded layups before Parker hit two free throws to put Siena back on top with a 24-23 lead with just 2:26 left in the half. Won followed up with a layup that pushed the SHU advantage to 26-23 before a layup, and a free throw by CU knotted things up at 26. Banks was fouled and made both of her free throws before Alcock finished the half going 1-2 in her free-throw attempts to give SHU a 29-26 edge as the teams entered the locker room at the half.
The third quarter was the Parker show, as she scored 12 of her 30 points during the 10 minutes. Parker got things rolling early with consecutive jumpers from three-point range that turned the Saints' three-point lead into a nine-point lead. The Golden Eagles hit a three-point jumper just seconds later to cut the advantage to six points, 35-29. A scoring drought began for both teams for the next 2:39 when Banks made two free throws. A jumper from Cornerstone was returned by Parker, who hit a three to put things at 40-31, Siena with 5:06 left in the quarter. Parker hit a layup with 3:21 left that gave the game its first double-digit deficit, 45-35, and the Saints never looked back from there as they built a 17-point advantage as the quarter ended.
The lead was maintained throughout the fourth quarter as the Golden Eagles never really got close to catching the Saints. Parker again led Siena in scoring with seven in the final period. The Saints finished the game shooting 47% from the floor and 41% from three. With the win over Cornerstone, Siena Heights sweeps the season series between the two teams as they won both games by an average margin of 18.5 points.
Up Next
The SHU women's basketball team will return home for the first of two straight at home. The first contest is on Wednesday, February 2, when Concordia (Mich.) comes to the SHU Fieldhouse for a Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) game that tips off at 6:00 p.m.
