Women's Basketball 2/21/2020 10:20:00 AM David Halstead

Red Flash set to host LIU Sunday

Loretto, Pa. – Saint Francis women's basketball (11-15, 9-6 NEC) enters the final stretch of the regular season by hosting LIU (6-18, 5-8 NEC) on Sunday, Feb. 23 at 1 p.m.

Scouting LIU
The Sharks have had an up and down season and are coming off a thrilling 66-63 win over Sacred Heart on Monday. Sophomore Ryan Weise connected on deep three-pointer at the buzzer to send the Sharks over the Pioneers in Brooklyn. LIU previously dropped three straight games to Merrimack, Mount St. Mary's and St. Francis Brooklyn. The Sharks are averaging 61.0 ppg, while allowing 67.7 ppg. Sophomore Brandy Thomas paces the team in scoring with 14.9 ppg, while sophomore Kiara Bell is averaging 10.5 ppg and a team-high 8.3 rpg.

Series History
Saint Francis leads the all-time series history 50-19. The Red Flash have lost the past two meetings with the Sharks, including a 71-53 defeat earlier this season on Jan. 27, 2020 in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Swogger and Thomas clutch from the free throw line
Juniors Haley Thomas (Hooversville, PA/Bishop McCort) and Karson Swogger (Bellwood, PA/Bellwood-Antis) rank No. 1 and No. 2 in the NEC from the free throw line. Thomas is 51-of-58 (87.9%) from the line, while Swogger is 54-of-65 (83.1%) from the charity stripe this season.

Challenging schedule remains
Following Sunday's game against LIU, the Red Flash will still face the top two teams in the NEC in its final two regular season games. SFU will host Mount St. Mary's (11-2) on Feb. 29 before closing the schedule at Robert Morris (14-0) on March 5.

NEC playoff picture
After Robert Morris and Mount St. Mary's, Merrimack (10-4) sits in third place in the league, but is unable to qualify for the NEC tournament due to it NCAA reclassification period. Saint Francis is currently fourth and would be the No. 3 seed in the tournament if the standings hold. Fairleigh Dickinson and Bryant are next with identical 6-7 records. The top four seeds host first round games in the NEC tournament, which begins on March 9.

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