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The Red Flash (0-1) hits the road for the first time this season when it visits the Pittsburgh Panthers for the second time in two years.

Pittsburgh (0-1) holds a 6-3 lead all-time in a series that has been quite competitive over the past decade.  Four of the teams' past five meetings have been decided by 10 points or fewer, with the lone exception being SFU's 85-71 victory over the Panthers in Loretto a season ago.  In Saint Francis' last visit to the Petersen Events Center, 24th-ranked Panthers nipped the Red Flash, 75-70.

Pittsburgh's largest win in the series came in 1994 – a 22-point margin (82-60) at Fitzgerald Fieldhouse – with Saint Francis' largest win coming the very next season – a 30-point (81-51) victory at the Stokes Athletics Center.

With nine meetings all-time, Pittsburgh is Saint Francis' most frequent opponent from a BCS conference.  SFU also holds the distinction of being the only Northeast Conference school to have laid a loss on the Panthers.

Both teams lost their season-openers at home last weekend: Pittsburgh fell to Hampton, 60-37, on Saturday, while Duquesne held-off SFU, 74-70, on Friday.


STARTING?FIVE...
 - Allison Smith (Lebanon, Pa./Cedar Crest) is the only starter from last season's opener active for tonight's game
 - Saint Francis fired a season-high 13 three-pointers in last seasons' win over Pittsburgh
 - With the losses of Samantha Leach (Mount Sterling, Ohio/Miami Trace), Allison Daly (Harrisburg, Pa./Trinity) (graduation) and Brittany Lilley (Severna Park, Md./Severna Park) (injury) the Flash have shed over 3,500 points from its roster
 - SFU has not won its first road game of the season since downing East Carolina, 81-67, at
Cornell on Nov. 24, 1995
 - Robinson Fruchtl on Duquesne game: “I think our kids showed a lot of character, a lot of guts, a lot of heart to come back and to actually take a lead.  I learned a lot as a coach.”

RED FLASH PICKED TO WIN THIRD STRAIGHT TITLE
The Northeast Conference Women's Basketball coaches have given Saint Francis University the moniker of NEC preseason favorite.  The two-time defending NEC champion Red Flash garnered four first-place nods in the poll of the conference's 12 head coaches.   Not since the 2004-05 season has the coaches' preseason favorite gone on to capture the NEC's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament field.  Saint Francis was actually the last Preseason No. 1 to go all the way when it won the last of its nine titles over a 10-season span (1996-2005).

WATTS MAKES STRONG SFU DEBUT
After sitting out the 2010-11 season due to NCAA transfer rules, Rhonda Watts (Alabaster, Ala./Thompson) made an immediate impact in her first game for the Flash, throwing down 16 points against Duquesne.  A native of Alabaster, Ala., Watts played two seasons at Virginia Commonwealth.  At Thompson High School she was a four-year letterwinner, and left the program as the Warrior's all-time leading scorer with 1,757 points.  During her career, the Warriors won 72 games and two 6A Area Titles.  Watts averaged 17.4 ppg as a senior shot 94 percent from the free-throw line.

SAINT FRANCIS RECEIVES VOTES IN MID-MAJOR POLL
The CollegeInsider.com Preseason Mid-Major Poll showed that the Red Flash have caught the attention of coaches around the nation with its recent success.  Although the poll includes only 25 teams, the Flash received 65 points to land in the 30th spot.

SCOUTING PITTSBURGH
Pittsburgh, picked by the league coaches to finish 12th, has a young team entering 2011-12 with eight sophomores and five freshmen. The incoming freshman class is ranked No. 18 by ESPN Hoopgurlz, the highest ranked class in Pitt history. Redshirt sophomore Ashlee Anderson is the lone returning starter.  On Saturday, sophomore Asia Logan led her team with 12 points off the bench, but it was Hampton that rolled to a 60-37 decision at the Petersen Events Center.