SIENA FALLS IN OPENER
Delayed first game begins well for Saints before 2nd-half fade
The Siena women’s basketball team got off to a fast start in its season opener against Fairfield before fading in the second half and falling 68-56./
Siena women’s basketball coach Ali Jaques said she didn’t really believe the season opener was finally going to happen until she got in her car two hours before tip-off to drive to Alumni Recreation Center on Friday. “For this to be our first game and for all the ups and downs, to actually play a game — in a lot of ways, it was pretty surreal,” she said.
It certainly was. The players wore masks during early pregame warmups. The seats on both benches were lined up in four rows and socially distanced. There were no fans in the stands.
That’s what college basketball looks like in many places during the coronavirus pandemic. Under the circumstances, Jaques and her players were pleased with how they performed in a 68-56 loss to Fairfield in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game.
With no games under their belts, the Saints held a 37-28 lead early in the third quarter over the Stags (2-1), a team picked to finish tied for second in the MAAC that had already played two games.
Fairfield rallied by shooting 15-for-26 (57.7 percent) from the field in the second half against the Saints, who appeared to have tired legs late. Fairfield’s Sam Lewis scored 21 points, making five 3-pointers, while MAAC Preseason Player
hitting four of its first five 3-point attempts to jump out ahead 14-9, but eight turnovers helped to propel Hofstra (2-2) to a 17-14 lead after the first quarter.
The shooting went south and the turnovers continued for the Danes in the second quarter. They missed 11 straight shots and committed five turnovers during a 12-0 Hofstra run as the Pride assumed control, leading 31-20 at halftime.
The Great Danes missed their final 18 3point attempts in the game and shot just 23 percent after their early surge. They also had 25 turnovers, a total they surpassed only once all of last season.
“As we get stronger and more in game shape,” Mullen said, “we’ll be able to finish those shots that we missed, finish better around the basket, and get to those loose balls a little quicker, and we’ll get there.”
Ellen Hahne, a 5-foot-11 junior who transferred from Wake Forest, led Ualbany with 15 points and 11 rebounds.
Having lost three fulltime starters from last season’s 9-21 team, the Danes opened with a lineup of Hahne, junior Lucia Decortes, sophomore Grace Heeps, freshman Kayla Cooper and senior Kyara Frames, the lone returning full-time starter. The other four had never started a game for Ualbany.
Decortes and junior Helene Haegerstrand each had seven points. Decortes also added eight rebounds.
“I was really impressed with the toughness of Ellen Hahne,” Mullen said. “She had a doubledouble and played 38 minutes for us. Lucia Decortes stepped up with her rebounding, and Izzy Om (four points, two assists) gave us terrific minutes off the bench.”
Heeps, a sophomore from East Greenbush who transferred from Massachusetts, hit a long 3pointer early on for UALbany but missed her final seven shots. She played 22 minutes.
Hofstra shot 40 percent and led by as many as 21.
“It was so great to play in a real game,” Mullen said. “With the pauses and the starts and the stops we’ve had this year, we needed to take advantage of just being in the moment and having fun. Everybody has faced some sort of adversity since this pandemic started, and the excitement and the energy to be the first Ualbany team to start off their season felt great.”
Ualbany isn’t sure of its next opponent. A scheduled nonconference home game Sunday against Saint Peter’s, announced Thursday, was canceled Friday as the Peahens were assigned to open their Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference season with a pair of games at Iona.
The Danes are trying to secure another opponent for Sunday, the school said. If that doesn’t happen, Ualbany returns to the court Tuesday afternoon for a nonconference meeting at Marist.