ROCHESTER, Mich. -- The Siena Heights women's basketball team surrendered a 16-point lead in the second half to fall to Rochester 68-66 in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) Tournament semifinals. The Saints (24-8) struggled with ball security as they finished the evening with 25 turnovers in the losing effort.
Peyton Banks shot 9-17 from the floor for 23 points while recording five rebounds and two assists. Anaya Powell made six shots from deep to score 20 points while dishing six assists and pulling in six rebounds. Madison Hamilton shot a perfect 4-4 for eight points and five rebounds. E'Anna Won led the rebounding efforts with ten boards.
A 5-0 run in the opening two minutes gave the Warriors their largest lead of the game when a layup put the score at 7-2. Banks hit a layup to spark a 7-0 run as the Saints recaptured the lead, 9-7, with 6:56 left in the first. The teams traded leads for the next 3:53 up to a tie game at 14 apiece. Rochester ended the first quarter with a 5-0 run to take a 19-14 advantage into the second quarter.
SHU started with a 6-0 run that retook the lead, 20-19 at the 8:15 mark. Again, the Warriors would recapture the lead just for the Saints to continue to battle and tie the score before taking a 27-26 lead off a Banks layup with 4:52 left in the half. Parker hit a layup to extend the lead to three points, and Siena Heights would hold on to take a 32-29 lead into the locker room at the intermission.
The Saints came out firing in the second half as Hamilton hit a jumper that sparked a 15-0 run and gave the game the first double-digit margin with a 47-31 advantage to SHU with 4:29 left in the third stanza. A 9-0 run by Rochester cut the deficit to four points with 40 ticks left on the clock. Powell hit a three-point jumper with 29 seconds left to give Siena a seven-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.
The Warriors completed a 5-0 run at 5:49 that tied the game at 57 before taking a 61-59 lead with 3:06 remaining. The score remained within one possession until three points by Rochester pushed the lead to 67-63 with just over 30 seconds remaining in regulation. A free throw pushed the edge to five points, but a three-pointer by Powell cut the score to a single possession with five seconds left. However, the clock hit zero's before the Saints could get a shot up for a chance to tie.
Up Next
With the loss, the Saints are eliminated from the WHAC Tournament. The team's only shot at continuing its season is to be selected to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Tournament as an at-large team. The selection show will occur on Thursday, March 3, at 6:00 p.m. CST.
