Siena Heights Women’s Basketball Falls in NAIA First Round to #12 Rio Grande (Ohio)

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Rio Grande, OH – The Siena Heights women’s basketball team hung tough with the highest-scoring offense in the NAIA. Ultimately, the Saints failed to keep pace with 12th-ranked Rio Grande as they dropped a 109-78 contest in the NAIA Tournament First Round on Tuesday night.

The Saints trailed 49-44 at halftime before the host Red Storm (29-3) blew the game open with a 60-34 second half.

Sha’kyia Parker led the way for SHU with 23 points and Peyton Banks finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds.

Also for SHU (24-7), Eva Alcock scored 13 points and Kayla Hinton made five assists.

Siena Heights jumped out to a 12-6 lead early in the first quarter, led by five points from Parker, and forced Rio Grande into a timeout.

The Storm answered, taking a 25-22 lead through one quarter. Rio Grande led by as many as 11 before the Saints pulled within five at halftime.

A 3-pointer by Parker closed the gap to 53-49 in the third, but after that, SHU was outscored 27-12 through the rest of the quarter. The Red Storm’s top scorer, Kaylee Darnell, had 23 of her 27 points in the period.

Rio Grande continued its momentum into the fourth, holding a comfortable lead the rest of the way.

Rio Grande’s Ella Skeens, the River States Conference Player of the Year, was limited to eight points by SHU. Some of that was due to some early foul trouble when Reagan Willingham stepped into Skeens’ place and scored all 14 of her points in the first half.

*Media via SHU Athletics*

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