"The Rising"
You may not be able to tell from their record but the Purple Eagles head into Friday's game against the Siena Saints with a full head of steam.
    
The Purple Eagles (3-10; 1-3 MAAC) have dropped two of their last three games but have enjoyed three of their best offensive performances of the season, including a season-best 84-point outburst in last Sunday's loss to Iona.
    
Since the conference season started, Niagara leads the MAAC with a 45.7 percent (112-for-245) field goal percentage while, on the defensive side, holding opponents to 36.8 percent from the floor. which is good for third in the conference.  They are also second in the conference with 75.0 ppg so far in conference play.
    
Several players have landed near the top of the individual MAAC leaderboards.  Senior Chanel Johnson is fourth in scoring with 17.6 ppg over the last four games.  Meghan McGuinness has 14.3 ppg in that span which is good for 12th in the MAAC.  Freshman Victoria Rampado has fought her way into the top-10 in rebounding with 7.0 rpg in MAAC-play.  Kelly Van Leeuwen, to no one's surprise, is second in the conference with 4.5 assists per game and fifth with a 2.3 assist/turnover ratio.
    
Siena (6-7; 1-3 MAAC) also enters the contest with a 1-3 conference record with the team's only win coming in an 82-58 decision on the road against Manhattan.  They have only played one conference game at home, a 77-63 loss to Rider, but have a 3-2 record in home games this season. 
    
Senior guard Kanika Cummings leads the team in scoring with 9.1 ppg this season.  Tehresa Coles and Megan Donahue are mirror-images of each other; both are second on the team with 8.6 ppg and are tied for the team lead with 6.3 rpg. 
    
Friday's game, which will be played in the Times Union Center as part of a men's/women's doubleheader, will feature two of the top-three offenses in the MAAC during conference play.  Niagara is second with 75.0 ppg and Siena is third with 71.2 ppg in the first four games of the conference season.  This is the second-consecutive game in which the Purple and White will face a top-three offense after it faced Iona, who leads the MAAC with 78.5 ppg, last Sunday.
 
How To Tune In
•    Purple Eagle fans can follow all of Sunday's action via PurpleEagles.com.
 
Against the Saints (Siena leads 43-24)
•   The Purple Eagles had two-straight wins against the Saints before dropping the final game in the 2012-13 series.  The last time NU beat Siena on the road was 11 years ago, on December 5, 2003.
 
"Racing In The Street"
•  Friday's game will feature two of the top three offenses in MAAC games.  Niagara is second in the MAAC with 75.0 ppg and Siena is third with 71.2 ppg through the first four conference games.
•  Interestingly enough, both teams are under .500 at 1-3. 
 
"Glory Days"
•  Chanel Johnson has set a new career-mark for consecutive games in which she has scored in the double-digits with her 19 points last Sunday versus Iona to stretch her streak to a career-long five games. 
•  Her previous longest double-digit scoring streak was set as a freshman in the 2010-11 season when she scored over 10 points in four-consecutive games.
•  The senior has scored in the double digits in her last five contests with 12 points against Buffalo (12/21), 19 against Quinnipiac (12/29), 19 against Fairfield (12/31),12 against Saint Peter's (1/3), and another 19 against Iona (1/5).
•  With her 12  points against Fairfield, she has hit double digits in seven of her last eight games.
 
"Johnny 99"
•  Chanel Johnson set a new career-high with seven assists against Iona (1/5).
•  She set her previous career best against Buffalo when she collected five assists just four games prior to the Iona matchup.
 
"Lost In The Flood"
•  The Purple Eagles lead the MAAC in conference play with a 45.7 percent (112-for-245) field goal percentage. 
•  Individually, Chanel Johnson is hitting 53.3 percent from the floor in MAAC contests to put her sixth in the conference.
•  NU is second in the conference with its 112 field goals made, 13 behind Quinnipiac's 125.  That being said, Quinnipiac has 94 more field goal attempts.
•  Not only are the Purple Eagles at the top of the leaderboard for field goal percentage, they're pretty darn close to the top in field goal defense.  Through the last four games they have only allowed opponents to hit 36.8 percent from the floor which puts them in third.
 
"The E Street Shuffle"
•  NU has two players in the top 10 in three-point field goal percentage.  Meghan McGuinness and Val McQuade are sixth and seventh hitting 44.0 percent and 43.5 percent, respectively, in MAAC contests.
•    As a team Niagara is third in three-point percentage against MAAC opponents with a 37.5 percent success rate.
 
"I'm On Fire"
•  Chanel Johnson and Meghan McGuinness find themselves in the top-15 in scoring in conference games.  Johnson is fourth with 17.3 ppg and McGuinness is 12th with 14.3 ppg through the opening four games of the conference season.
•  Val McQuade, who will not be ignored, rounds out the top-25 with 10.5 ppg in that same span.
 
"Easy Money"
•  This next note shouldn't surprise anyone but Kelly Van Leeuwen has continued her run towards field general of the year during conference play.  She is second in the MAAC with 4.5 apg and fifth with a 2.3 assist/turnover ratio. 
•  On a side note: Chanel Johnson is tied for 15th in the MAAC with 2.5 apg in MAAC games.
 
"The Promised Land"
•  Gabby Baldasare became the third Purple Eagle to collect a double-double this season with the first of her career in NU's game against Iona (1/5).  She scored 11 points and pulled in a team-high 11 rebounds.