ALBANY, N.Y. -- Lindsay Gonzalez scored 19 points and Felicia Harris added 18 as St. Peter's defeated defending champion Siena 83-71 Sunday to win the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament and secure an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The Peahens (25-5) have now won a record eight MAAC titles and advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2000.

It was a shocking loss for Siena (23-6), which had beaten St. Peter's twice this season -- including an 85-69 win on Feb. 21 -- and won its first two tournament games by an average of 23.5 points. The Saints, which had won 19 straight games at one point this season, had defeated the Peahens five straight times overall heading into the game, the second-longest streak ever against St. Peter's.

The game was tied at 38 with 15:43 left when St. Peter's went on a 15-1 run to take the lead for good. The biggest play during the spurt came when Layla Willis was fouled as she made a layup to give the Peahens a 42-38 lead. Willis missed her foul shot but St. Peter's got the rebound and Harris scored and was fouled by Gunta Basko.

Harris made her foul shot to give St. Peter's a 45-38 lead and Basko, the conference's leading scorer and two-time player of the year, went to the bench with her third foul with 13:49 left.

Basko returned with 8:30 left but the Peahens had already built the lead up to 13 points and the Saints weren't able to get closer than 11 points the rest of the way.

Basko led Siena with 20 points, seven of them coming in the game's first four minutes. Liene Jansone added 15 points for the Saints.

Tyiana Sears scored 13 for St. Peter's.

The Peahens used the combination of their inside dominance and the playmaking abilities of Gonzalez to take the lead in the first half. St. Peter's out-rebounded Siena 21-11 in the opening half and frontcourt players Sears, Harris and Tanesha Seaton combined for 18 first-half points.

When those three weren't scoring the points for the Peahens, it was Gonzalez who was the catalyst. She finished the half with seven points, five assists and just one turnover.

Siena went nearly seven minutes between field goals at one point during the first half, as St. Peter's went on 20-6 run to take a 24-18 lead with 6:05 left. Gonzalez ended the half's scoring when she hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 10 seconds left to give the Peahens a 34-26 lead at the break.