March 16, 2005

Loudonville, NY--Lauren Surber (West Sayville, NY) has decided to return to the Siena College women's basketball line-up for her fifth year for the 2005-06 season as announced earlier this week.

Forced by a knee injury during her sophomore year, Surber red-shirted the season, giving her one-year of athletic eligibility to return to the hardwood. The fierce guard led the team in steals (52) while averaging 1.9 spg. Surber started 27-of-29 games and put up a season average of 8.6 .ppg, 5.2 .rpg and 2.7 .apg. Last season, she drained 28 treys at a 32% clip. In the final six games of the season, Surber was torching the nets from downtown to the tone of 13-of-23.

"We are extremely happy that Lauren has decided to play her 5th year here at Siena. Lauren is skilled and athletic and is just beginning to come into her own. Surbs is also a valuable leader to our program, with 12 players returning her leadership will be priceless. I am looking forward to working with her for one more season", said head coach Gina Castelli.

The backcourt player is a two-time reigning New York Lottery Scholar Athlete of the Year in the MAAC. She was also honored with the MAAC's Co-Defensive Player of the Year award for her tenacious play this season; she shared the honor with Marist's Alisa Kresge.

"I'm really excited to be coming back and I'm looking forward to the year. The entire team is going to be working really hard in the off-season and over the summer and we'll be coming back real strong for the season", vowed Surber.

Surber has improved her numbers over each of her first three seasons in scoring, steals, assists, rebounds, free throw percentage and three-point field goals.

The Saints will return two-thirds of their tri-captains with only Alexis Darling leaving the team this season due to graduation.