FULL PREGAME RELEASE

The Red Flash (0-3) travels west as it visits Akron (1-2) for the final game of a three-game road swing.

The Zips hold an 8-0 stranglehold on the series, but the teams' last meeting in 2007-08 was one of the closest on record.  Akron downed the Red Flash, 61-53, at DeGol Arena in Susan Robinson Fruchtl's first season in Loretto.  The eight-point setback marked a significant improvement from the previous year's meeting when the Zips posted a 33-point victory – the largest differential in series history.

The Zips are coming off a 67-60 loss to Drexel to conclude play in the Preseason WNIT. Junior guard Taylor Ruper led Akron with 12 points, all on three-pointers. All nine Zips that saw playing time recorded at least two points. The second half saw an offensive shoot-out, as each team shot better than 56 percent and made at least 16 field goals.

The Zips were picked to finish third in the MAC East Division in the league's preseason poll.

The Red Flash returns home to tipoff a four-game homestand – its longest of the season – against Bucknell on Nov. 27.



STARTING FIVE...
-    Allison Smith (Lebanon, Pa./Cedar Crest) is the only starter from last season's opener active for tonight's game
-    Saint Francis is 1-4 against the MAC under Susan Robinson Fruchtl (1-1 in 2010-11)
-    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's last road win against a MAC school came against Toledo in 2004-05 (82-79 in OT)
-    Robinson Fruchtl on Syracuse game: “The bottom line is that we have to play with more heart and passion.  That's something we have to find real quick.  This is not what Red Flash basketball is all about – it's really not.  We have to play better and we can.”

EARLY RETURNS MIXED
Despite posting three losses to open the 2011-12 season, the Red Flash has saw drastically different performances from game one to its last two outings.  SFU pushed Atlantic-10
preseason number three pick Duquesne to the limit in a 74-70 setback before falling to Pittsburgh and Syracuse.  
Unfortunately for Saint Francis, the only area of consistency between was in the turnover column.

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.  Two games later she earned her first collegiate start.  Watts played her first two seasons at Virginia Commonwealth.  Prior to that,  she left Thompson High School as its 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.

SHOOTERS TAKING TURNS
Three games, three high scorers.  The early part of the season has provided little clarity as to where the bulk of SFU's offense will come from in 2010-11.  Based on her body of work, sophomore Alli Williams (Altoona, Pa./Bishop Guilfoyle) is a likely candidate to be the Red Flash's top scorer this season (she averaged 8.6 ppg in 2010-11).  To date, five SFU players have combined for six double-digit scoring output, including two freshmen (Alexa Hayward (Beaver Falls, Pa./Blackhawk) & Hailey Carangelo (Lebanon, Pa./Lebanon Catholic)).