ALBANY, N.Y. - A late spark from senior Chanel Johnson pushed the Niagara Purple Eagles to a 76-72 victory over the Siena Saints on Friday evening in the Times Union Center.
 
With 13:48 left on the clock and the Purple Eagles (4-10; 2-3 MAAC) trailing 46-41, Johnson checked back into the game after sitting out the beginning of the half due to foul trouble. She immediately scored four points to get NU within one, 46-45. Siena (6-9: 1-4 MAAC) tried to pull away but another layup from Johnson kept Niagara within a point before a Taylor McKay layup put NU in the lead, 49-48, and it never gave it back.
 
"Our team feels comfortable with [Johnson] on the floor because she's a winner," head coach Kendra Faustin said of her lone senior. "She was certainly the difference when we put her back on the floor and when she fouled out, Meghan McGuinness did her job."
 
McGuinness hit three three-pointers down the stretch to keep Niagara in front.  She finished with seven threes and a career and game-high 29 points. The Purple Eagles hit 8-of-10 free throws in the final 37 seconds to come away with a 76-72 victory.
 
"That's sort of that maturity that we've been talking about; that's the step we've been waiting to take is winning a close game," said Faustin.  "We fell short last weekend and we talked about those moments.  In the huddle you hear Chanel Johnson say, 'We've got this.'  You hear Meghan McGuinness say, 'Alright, let's go.'  Our group was really aware of those moments and came out on the right side of those moments by performing under pressure."
 
Both Johnson and McKay finished with 11 points and Sam Lapszynski finished with a team-high eight rebounds in a career-high 27 minutes. The Purple Eagles shot 52.0 percent (26-for-59) from the floor as a team, due in part to hitting nearly 59 percent in the second half.
 
Defensively the Purple and White held the Saints to a 34.4 percent (22-for-64) shooting percentage which included keeping the hosts to just 3-for-14 from beyond the arc in the first half. 
 
Play in the opening half was fairly even.  Kelly Van Leeuwen scored NU's opening four points. Five ties and five lead changes later, McGuinness hit a three-pointer to send NU on a 9-3 run to close out the half and go into the break with a 31-27 lead.
 
"A conference win on the road is tough to come by and so we're certainly excited by that. It wasn't pretty, we told our kids at the beginning of the game that it wasn't going to be pretty. Siena plays that style, they're so tough, and they make you play ugly basketball. I thought our kids did a great job, our team did a great job, of weathering the storm in that game."
 
The Purple Eagles get right back to work on Sunday with a matchup against Saint Peter's at high noon in Jersey City, N.J.