Women's Basketball 12/14/2019 10:43:00 AM David Halstead

Red Flash travel to face Duquesne Sunday

Loretto, Pa. – Saint Francis women's basketball (2-6) travels to Pittsburgh to face Duquesne (8-2) on Sunday, Dec. 15 at 2 p.m. The game, which can be seen on ESPN+, will be played at La Roche University as the Dukes' court is under construction this season.

Scouting Duquesne
After opening the season with back-to-back losses to Kent State and Temple, the Dukes have reeled off eight straight wins. In the stretch, Duquesne picked up wins at ACC foe Pittsburgh and defeated NEC opponent Central Connecticut State. The Dukes are coming off a 72-62 win at Cornell this past Tuesday. Duquesne is averaging 76.4 points per contest, while allowing 66.0 ppg. Libby Bazelak leads the team in scoring and rebounding with 14.2 points and 5.8 boards per game. Amanda Kalin is averaging 12.4 ppg and 5.6 rpg, while pacing the team in assists with 4.3 apg.

Series History
Duquesne leads the all-time series history 30-10 and has won the past nine meetings with the Red Flash. SFU's most recent win in the series came in a 66-54 overtime victory on Nov. 20, 2007 in Loretto. The Red Flash fell to the Dukes at DeGol Arena last season, 93-73, on Nov. 25, 2018.

Red Flash to face former assistant
Saint Francis will be facing off against a Duquesne team that features former Red Flash assistant coach Vanessa Abel on the staff. The former standout for the Dukes returned to her alma mater as an assistant coach prior to the start of the 2019-20 season. Abel spent two years on the sidelines for Saint Francis in 2016-17 and 2017-18, where she helped guide the Red Flash to a share of the NEC regular season title, a conference tournament championship and a berth in the NCAA tournament.

Daunting non-conference schedule
Saint Francis has faced an extremely challenging out of conference schedule to open the season. The Red Flash faced power five opponents Virginia Tech and West Virginia to tipoff the 2019-20 campaign. SFU also tangled with one of the top mid-major programs in the country in Florida Gulf Coast and No. 22 South Florida. The Red Flash faced WNIT participant Youngstown State this past weekend and will still meet two teams who reached the postseason last year in Liberty (WNIT) and Bucknell (NCAA Tournament).

Searching for scoring options
Averaging just 53.0 ppg, the Red Flash will need to have an increased offensive production to keep pace with the high-flying offenses that it will face over the next three games. Saint Francis has scored under 55 points in each of its six losses this season. Karson Swogger (Bellwood, PA/Bellwood-Antis) (11.3 ppg) and Haley Thomas (Hooversville, PA/Bishop McCort) (9.5 ppg) pace the team in scoring and will need someone else to step up and knock down shots.

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