GAME NOTES - AUDIO BROADCAST - WEB STREAM

LORETTO, Pa. (Dec. 30, 2012) – The Saint Francis University women's basketball team wraps up its non-conference schedule on the road Monday with a 1 p.m. tipoff against No. 5 Notre Dame.
 
JUST THE FACTS
Saint Francis Red Flash (5-5, 0-0 NEC) vs.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish (10-1, 0-0 Big East)
Where: Purcell Pavilion– South Bend, Ind.
When: Monday | 1 p.m.
ALL-TIME: Notre Dame leads 1-0
LAST TIME: SFU 39, Notre Dame 82 Dec. 29, 2007
 
BROADCAST INFO:
Audio Broadcast – Red Zone Media
Web Stream – www.RedZoneMedia.com
 
BROADCASTERS:
Dave Franczak and Jeff Symonds
 
A LITTLE BIT IRISH
First year women's basketball coach Joe Haigh returns to his Alma Mater Monday. South Bend also has special meaning to Haigh's wife Sherri (Orlosky), who played basketball for four years at the University of Notre Dame, and left ranked in the top ten all time in three-point and free throw percentages. Haigh graduated from Notre Dame in 1995 with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting.
 
FOR THE RECORD
Brittany Lilley (Severna Park, Md./Severna Park) moved past Beth Barnabei on the Saint Francis all-time scoring list in the Wright State game and now sits alone in 19th-place, 23 points behind matching Cheril Meier for 18th. Alli Williams (Altoona, Pa./Bishop Guilfoyle)  moves up the all-time scoring list as well and now sits just 19 points away from becoming the first SFU junior to reach 1,000-career points since Lilley did it in the 2010-11 season. Williams also continues to move up the all-time rebounding chart and sits 14 rebounds away from matching Allison Daly for 13th.
 
ROOKIE HEATING UP
After starting the season slowly, Brooklyn Taylor (Greenville, Pa./Greenville) posted a pair of solid showings at the Wright State Invitational. Taylor headed into the Wright State Invitational without a made 3-pointer but the rookie connected on four 3-pointers in the tournament.
 
BESTED BY THE BENCH
The Red Flash has gotten some good performances from its bench so far this season and SFU enters the game with Notre Dame averaging 15.0-points a game in bench scoring. The Flash has been feast or famine in defending opponents' benches. Three times this season, SFU has limited its opponents' benches to fewer than 10 points including a shut out of Howard's bench in the season opener. However, twice this season SFU has allowed an opponents' bench to score more than 40. Against Wright State the SFU bench scored 22 points just one short of a season high but SFU allowed the Raiders bench to rack up 45 points.
 
CONFERENCE AROUND THE CORNER
The Red Flash open conference play Saturday as Bryant comes to Loretto for a 1 p.m. tipoff. SFU will be looking for its 12th Northeast Conference title in 2012-13 and will look to head the NCAA tournament for the 12th time. Saturday will also be the conference debut for Joe Haigh, who is in his first season as the head coach for SFU.   
 
SETTING THE STAGE
The Red Flash closes non-conference action Monday with a road game against Notre Dame in SFU's first contest in 10 days. The Flash started the season hot, posting a record of 4-1 in the month of November but in December the Flash own a record of 1-4. SFU's sole win in December came in a 98-point explosion against Wright State.  After two games in 21 days, the Red Flash have three games in the next seven days. SFU wraps up its non-conference schedule against Notre Dame Monday before opening conference play Saturday against Bryant followed by a home contest Monday against Central Connecticut State. The Fighting Irish face the Red Flash in a game sandwiched between a pair of games against nationally ranked teams. Notre Dame knocked off Purdue Saturday and now the Irish face the Flash before opening Big East Conference play against Connecticut Saturday.
 
Alli Williams (Altoona, Pa./Bishop Guilfoyle) continues to lead the Red Flash in both points per game and rebounding. The junior forward leads the Northeast Conference in scoring averaging 18.3 points a game while also pulling down 10.6 rebounds a game. Nickia Gibbs (Greenbelt, Md./Eleanor Roosevelt) ranks second on the team in scoring averaging 10.9 points, 4.5 rebounds a game and 2.7 assists a contest. Brittany Lilley (Severna Park, Md./Severna Park) ranks first on the team in assists, averaging 3.8 a game while the senior guard also averages 3.7 points and 2.7 rebounds a game.  The Flash are looking to finish non-conference play with a winning record on the road and overall. SFU has shot the ball well from the field to start the season with a 39.7-percent field goal mark in its first 10 games. The Flash are coming off their best shooting performance of the season as SFU shot over 57-percent against Wright State. One area the Red Flash have struggled at this season is the free throw stripe as SFU owns a 59.9-percent free throw percentage.
 
Notre Dame enters its meeting with the Red Flash ranked No. 5 nationally and looking to move its winning streak to six after falling earlier in the season to Baylor 73-61. The Irish are ranked eighth nationally in scoring averaging 80.3 points a game and they have done it through sharing the ball. Notre Dame ranks fourth nationally in assists per game (19.1) while also hitting 80-percent of its free throws a mark that ranks them seventh nationally. National Player of the Year candidate, Skylar Diggins leads the Notre Dame offense averaging 15.2 points a game while also dishing out 5.2 assists a game. Diggins entered the week ranked 26th nationally in assists per game. Including Diggins, four Irish players average 10 or more points a game. Natalie Achonwa leads the Irish in rebounding (9.9 rebounds a game) and ranks third on the team in points averaging 14.2 points a contest. Notre Dame has played in the last two national title games and won the 2011 national title.   
 
NUMBERS TO KNOW
0 – The Red Flash have never won against Notre Dame but the two Catholic Schools have met just once previously.
 
1 – The meeting with Notre Dame stands as the final non-conference game of the season for the Red Flash.
 
2 – The Fighting Irish are the second nationally ranked opponent the Red Flash have played this season. (Ohio State, L 70-54, Nov. 20)
 
5 – Notre Dame ranks fifth in the nation in the AP National Poll entering the week of the 31st.
 
6 – After 12 3-point makes in her first nine-games this season, Alexa Hayward (Beaver Falls, Pa./Blackhawk) connected on six 3-pointers against Wright State.
 
19 – Alli Williams (Altoona, Pa./Bishop Guilfoyle) stands just 19 points away from becoming the 22nd SFU player in program history to record 1,000-career points.
 
20 – Williams needs 20 rebounds to become the 12th player in program history to post 600 career rebounds.
 
24 – Hayward is just 24 3-point makes away from moving into 10th all-time at SFU.
 
39 – Brittany Lilley (Severna Park, Md./Severna Park) needs 39 rebounds to tie Kristin Cirigliano for seventh all-time at SFU.
                                                                        
UP NEXT
Saint Francis opens up conference play Saturday as the Red Flash welcome Bryant to DeGol Arena for a 1 p.m. tipoff.