SFU GAME NOTES | NEC Front Row (VIDEO) | LIVE STATS

LORETTO, PA- Saint Francis women's basketball starts Northeast Conference play with the Wagner Seahawks on Saturday afternoon with a 1 p.m. tip at DeGol Arena.

ABOUT THE FLASH
Saint Francis is coming into the contest off a 84-78 overtime win against the West Virginia State Yellowjackets in an exhibition game on Tuesday night. Jessica Kovatch (Phillipsburg, N.J./Phillipsburg) had 39 points and seven steals to lead SFU, who led by as many as 24 in the second half. A seven-minute scoring drought allowed WV State to get back into the game and force overtime. Through non-conference play, Saint Francis currently leads the NEC in several categories including assists/g (15.3), blocks/game (4.9), total steals (115), steals per game (10.5), and turnovers forced (21.9). They will look to shutdown Jasmine Nwajei of Wagner. The junior is second in the NEC in scoring at just over 21 points per game.

ABOUT WAGNER
The Seahawks dropped their final non-conference game on Wednesday night, falling in NYC to Columbia 67-48. Nwajei continued to lead Wagner, scoring 24 in the loss. The junior accounts for around 40 percent of her teams points so far this season, averaging 21.2 points per game while Wagner averages around 55. Wagner has struggled shooting the ball, they are last in the NEC in total shooting (.343) and three-point shooting (.274). Both teams have losses this season to Pitt (Wagner fell 67-41, SFU 74-59) and Columbia (Wagner 67-48, SFU 84-78).

ABOUT THE MATCHUP
These two conference rivals are no strangers to one another. This will be the 63rd meeting between the schools with SFU holding a 41-21 all-time edge. Each team won on the opposition's court last season with SFU prevailing 87-74 in Staten Island and Wagner winning 76-60 in Loretto.

LOOKING AHEAD
Conference play starts with the typical Saturday-Monday split, Sacred Heart will come into DeGol Arena for a Monday night match-up. The women will play the second game of the double header between the schools, a tip time is scheduled for around 730 P.M..