VESTAL, N.Y — Elisa Mevius scored a game-high 21 points, leading Siena (1-0) to a 73-64 victory over Binghamton (1-1) in a non-conference women’s basketball game on Monday evening at Dr. Bai Lee Court at the Events Center. The visiting Saints came into the game having been picked to finish second in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC).
Mevius, the reigning MAAC Rookie of the Year, was 8-of-13 from the floor, grabbed six rebounds, dished out four assists and recorded six steals. Three of her field goals came from beyond the three-point arc.
Three other Siena players reached double figures in scoring, including Anajah Brown (17 points), Ahniysha Jackson (12 points), and Alden Yergey (11 points). Brown also grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds.
Freshman guard Kaylee Krysztof led the Bearcats with 15 points, all of which came from three-point range. She went 5-for-8 from that distance and in the process, became the first Binghamton player to hit five three pointers since current redshirt sophomore guard Ella Wanzer made six treys on Jan. 28, 2023 at Bryant.
Junior forward Genevieve Coleman scored 14 points, going 5-for-9 from the field. For the season, she is now averaging a team-best 16.0 points per game.
Graduate student guard Denai Bowman finished with 11 points and now has 1,232 points for her career. In the process, she moved into ninth place all time in program history. Against Siena, she surpassed Karen McClelland (1,227 points from 1996-00) and Alicia Brennan (1,229 points from 1986-90).
Also scoring 11 points was Wanzer. She went a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line.
Siena blew the game open with a 16-0 run in a span of 3:02 to take a 27-17 lead with 8:04 left in the second quarter. The Saints had a balanced attack during that stretch, with six different player scoring points.
From there, the Saints went on an 18-2 blitz in a span of 7:07 to take a commanding 56-31 lead with 4:22 left in the third quarter. Brown led the way with nine points during that stretch while Mevius added seven points.
Binghamton battled back, closing out the final 7:12 on a 23-4 run. Krysztof scored all 15 of her points during that span.
“I thought we did a nice job at the very end of the game but it was too little too late,” head coach Bethann Shapiro Ord said. “Siena did a tremendous job in playing at their tempo and we played the way they wanted us to instead of playing our game.”
Siena finished with a 46-16 advantage in points in the paint.
Redshirt sophomore guard Jadyn Weltz dished out a game-high five rebounds to go along with a team-best five rebounds.
Binghamton heads to Loyola (Md.) for a 5 p.m. game on Sunday.