LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Siena Women’s Basketball has produced many performances not recently seen by the program this past year. Following Saturday night’s outing, you can add half-court buzzer to the list.

After leading by as many as 20 against MAAC rival Niagara, the game came down to the final seconds and saw the Purple Eagles take their first lead of the game by way of a go-ahead layup from the conference’s leading scorer, Angel Parker.

Down 81-80 with no timeouts remaining and 4.4 seconds to go in regulation, Siena freshman point guard Angel Jones quickly inbounded the ball to classmate Elisa Mevius, who hustled down the court and threw up a desperation 55-foot heave at the buzzer.

Half-court shot and no-doubter rarely pair well together, but all 55 feet of the ball was destined for the net, giving the Saints an improbable 83-81 victory over the team that ended their 2021-22 season.

The Saints (16-9, 10-5) moved just half a game behind Niagara (11-11, 10-4) for third place in the league standings by taking the first of two late-season meetings at the UHY Center on Saturday evening. Siena closed out a three-game homestand with two straight wins prior to embarking on a stretch of four of five games away from home to end the regular season.

Siena netted the first seven points of the game and withstood an early Niagara surge to lead by two at the end of the first period while exploding for a 30-point effort to hold a 47-29 advantage at the half. En route to forcing 34 Siena turnovers and making 22 steals, the Purple Eagles embarked on a furious 11-2 run to start the fourth quarter and doubled up on the Saints in the final ten minutes of play, 28-14.

Both teams shot well at the free throw line, but Mevius could not shut the door with nine seconds remaining to give Parker and Niagara the chance for the lead. The rest, as they say, is history.

The shot to give the home team the win earned the Grunberg, Germany product her second straight game with a career-high, this time producing the most points in a game by a Siena player this season with 26. Sophomore Valencia Fontenelle-Posson added 18 points, while classmate Emina Selimovic went for 12.

Siena shot 54 percent from the field while making 27 of 32 free throw attempts and holding a 31-30 rebounding advantage. Niagara’s Aaliyah Parker dropped 29 points in the losing effort, while older sister Angel finished with 16.

The Saints will hit the road next week for their third and final Kids Day contest of the year at Iona on Thursday, February 16, with tip-off set for 11 AM.