LOUDONVILLE – The Siena women’s basketball team held its first practice on Monday, beginning a season that many believe will end with Fairfield winning its fourth straight title in its farewell to the Metro Conference.
Before departing for the Coastal Athletic Association next year, the Stags were the unanimous favorites in the Metro preseason coaches’ poll announced last Wednesday. Fairfield received all 13 first-place votes, including the ballot belonging to Saints coach Terry Primm.
Advertisement
Siena was chosen second overall. Metro coaches are allowed to vote for their own teams, but Primm said he didn’t feel the need to pick his own program first to send a message of confidence in his players.
“We don’t need votes to show confidence,” Primm said before Monday’s practice. “We show confidence in the building, every day that we practice and the time that we spend together, we’re real family. … We’re excited about our ranking, but at the end of the day, we want to show up and compete when the time comes.”
Siena, seeking its first Metro title since 2001, opens the season Nov. 2 against Brown at UHY Center.
Fairfield put six players on the three preseason all-conference teams, including returning Metro Player of the Year Kaety L’Amoreaux and Shenendehowa graduate Jillian Huerter, last year’s tournament MVP. The Stags also added 6-foot-4 Purdue transfer Lana McCarthy and Bowling Green graduate transfer Paige Kohler, who was an all-conference guard in the Mid-American Conference.
Advertisement
“We’re competitors, so you know, the hat’s off to Fairfield. They’ve done a great job over the last couple of years, establishing themselves as one of the best, the best actually in the Metro,” Primm said. “But that’s an opportunity for us. Every year we’re going for it. Every year we want to get better at it. And I do remember a time we were beating Fairfield, so we want to get back to that.”
Siena has lost its past five meetings with Fairfield since beating the Stags in the quarterfinals of the 2023 Metro Tournament, the last time the Stags didn’t win the title. Siena and Fairfield will meet Dec. 29 in Loudonville and Jan. 13 in Connecticut.
The Saints return four starters, including sophomore guard Francesca Schiro, the 2026 Metro Rookie of the Year. She was named preseason first-team all-conference.
Schiro missed last year’s conference tournament in Atlantic City with a broken wrist. While respecting Fairfield, she wasn’t conceding anything to the Stags.
Advertisement
“I mean, they’re a very good team, so I know how good they are, but I think our message is, we’re here to compete this year and March is going to be very different,” Schiro said. “We’re a more experienced team this year. Some of us played in Atlantic City last year, so we know how it goes. So I think the message to (Fairfield) would just be, we’re going to compete with them very hard.”
Redshirt junior guard Nicole Melious, on the preseason third team, and sophomore Kaiya Rain Tucker, on the second team, are also back with a roster that welcomes nine newcomers.
“Obviously, they (Fairfield) are the favorite,” Melious said. “They have a great team. They have some great coaches. But I just feel like we just need to work hard and get 1% better every day and I feel like anything can happen.”
Saints work on shooting form
Schiro and Melious said the Saints are working hard to become a better shooting team. The Saints made only 25.4% from 3-point range last season, which ranked 12th out of 13 Metro teams.
Advertisement
“Just get extra shots off after practice, before practice, working with coaches, individuals,” Melious said. “But, yeah, I think we really have the potential to be a much better shooting team this season.”
Siena’s Primm has new staff
Primm had a complete staff turnover since last season. He hired assistant coaches Imani Gordon, Chad Smith, Erica Covile and Olivia Travis.
From last year’s staff, assistant Billy Lovett departed for the University of Delaware and assistant Sydnie Rosales of Colonie High and director of basketball operations Heather Stec left college basketball for other jobs.
Advertisement
Primm will split the DOBO responsibilities between his assistants, allowing each to coach on the floor and recruit.
“They’ve all been great with the transition,” Primm said. “Actually, it’s going to be easier for me. It might be the first time we’ve started with this many coaches at the beginning of the year.”
Subscribe
There’s more to Albany with the Times Union. Subscribe today for just 25¢.
This article originally published at Siena women’s basketball opens practice with sights set on Fairfield.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
