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LORETTO, Pa. – Saint Francis University women's basketball returns from an 11-day break for a home matchup against Vermont on Thursday, Dec. 8 at 5 p.m. The meeting with Vermont begins a two-game home stretch for the Red Flash.
 
Saint Francis Quick Hits
Filippa Goula ranks third in the NEC with 3.1 assists per game and is top-20 with 8.4 points per game. Layla Laws is third in the conference with 1.9 steals per game, ranks fifth with 0.9 blocks per game and top-20 with 8.3 points per game. Goula leads the Red Flash with four double-digit point games and Laws leads with a single-game high of 19 points this season. Aaliyah Moore leads the NEC with 8.6 rebounds per game, one rebound per game higher than any other player, and has five games with at least nine rebounds. Freshman Destini Ward has 7.3 points per game to start the season after the highest-scoring freshman in 2021-22 averaged 1.4 points.
 
Last Time Out
Saint Francis wrapped up a three-game road stretch with an 83-40 loss to Marquette, who was ranked No. 24 in the USA Today/WBCA poll and received votes in the Associated Press poll. Saint Francis was within one point, 10-9, with under four minutes remaining in the first quarter before Marquette ended the quarter on an 8-0 run. The Golden Eagles outscored the Red Flash 25-6 in the second quarter and opened a 43-15 lead at the half. Marquette led by at least 30 for the final 18 minutes of the game before its victory.
 
Scouting Vermont
The Catamounts enter Thursday's matchup with a 6-3 record and are on a current five-game winning streak. During the winning streak. Vermont defeated new NEC member Stonehill 70-48. Emma Utterback leads the Catamounts with 14.7 points per game and 5.6 assists per game, which ranks 27th in the NCAA Division I. Anna Olson and Catherine Gilwee also average double-digit points with 13.1 and 12.6, respectively. Utterback and Gilwee are both one-time America East Player of the Week selections this season. Bella Vito leads the team with 6.3 rebounds per game and Olson is second with 6.1. As a team, Vermont averages 64.2 points per game and allows 59.

All-Time vs. Vermont
The teams each have one win in the matchup history with a 73-69 double-overtime win for Saint Francis in 2019 and a 69-63 Vermont win in 1988. Sam Miller is the only current Saint Francis player who played in the 2019 matchup and she logged nine minutes with two rebounds and one block. For Vermont, current players Delaney Richason, Utterback and Carly Whiteside played in the game. Utterback led the group with 20 points on 9-of-16 shooting.

Around the NEC
Fairleigh Dickinson sits atop the NEC standings with a 7-2 overall record and is the only team with an above-.500 record. Wagner is second in the conference with a 4-4 record while all other NEC teams have two or less wins. LIU, Sacred Heart, Saint Francis and St. Francis Brooklyn all carry losing streaks of at least six games as of Dec. 6. On Wednesday, Dec. 7 Central Connecticut will face UMass Lowell, Merrimack will face Boston University and Sacred Heart will host Bryant. On Thursday, Dec. 8, Saint Francis' next game, Stonehill will visit Holy Cross and St. Francis Brooklyn faces UPenn.
 
Next
Saint Francis concludes its two-game home stretch with a Sunday, Dec. 11 matchup against Coppin State for a 2 p.m. tip-off.