Saint Francis University (1-8) at Delaware State University (3-2)
Date | Time	Thursday, December 5, 2024 | 11:00 a.m.
Location	Dover, Del. | Memorial Hall - Bayhealth Court
Television	ESPN+
Live Stats	Sidearm
Printable Notes	Saint Francis | Delaware State
Stats	Saint Francis | Delaware State | Northeast Conference
Social Media	@RedFlashWBB  | #WIN | #BIB | Instagram | Facebook

 

Saint Francis Probable Starters
Pos.	No.	Name	Ht.	Yr.	PPG	RPG	FG%	Note
G	0	Yanessa Boyd	5-9	So.	9.1	3.1	39.7	Notched career-high 20 points at Duquesne
G	10	Ineivi Plata	5-3	Fr.	4.0	3.7	30.0	Ranks second on the team with 28 assists
G	20	Airah Lavy	5-10	Fr.	6.7	1.3	37.3	Notched third career 10+ point game at Duquesne
F	12	Julianna Gibson	6-2	Jr.	5.1	3.4	44.7	Tallied eight points and seven rebounds at Duquesne
F	23	Marina Artero	5-11	So.	1.1	3.4	17.2	Leads the team with 29 assists
Top Players Off the Bench
Pos.	No.	Name	Ht.	Yr.	PPG	RPG	FG%	Note
G	1	Kameryn Dorsey	5-6	So.	7.0	5.0	60.0	Posted a team-high five rebounds against NJIT
F	3	Jade Campbell	6-0	Jr.	4.3	4.7	71.4	Season-high six points at Duquesne
G	4	Marissa Shelton	5-8	Jr.	4.4	1.8	25.5	Had nine points at Duquesne
G	5	Natalie Johnson	5-8	Jr.	7.3	1.4	45.2	Has three 10-point games on the road
G	11	Harris Robinson	5-8	Sr.	2.6	1.9	24.2	Earned a scholarship after last season
G	21	Gemma Walker	5-10	Fr.	1.7	0.7	18.2	Returned to action in the last two games
G	24	Destini Ward	5-8	Jr.	---	---	---	Team captain in 2024-25
F	32	Fanta Daffe	5-10	Sr.	0.0	0.4	0.0	Playing her second season in Loretto
F	33	Giselle Eke	6-3	Fr.	2.2	2.1	33.3	Career-high six points at Maryland
F	34	Alary Bell	6-2	So.	5.3	3.3	54.2	Second on team in steals

SELECT GAME NOTES VS. DELAWARE STATE (FULL GAME NOTES PDF)

FRANKIES TIDBITS IN A FLASH
• Saint Francis wraps up a five-game road trip at Delaware State on Thursday in the eighth meeting between the two teams dating back to the 1978-79 season. The Hornets lead the series 5-2, but the Red Flash took the last clash between the two teams 75-52 in Loretto in 1995-96.
• Delaware State is the second Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference team on the schedule after Saint Francis played Coppin State on November 12. Both games have been at the home of the MEAC school.
• The Red Flash is 13-15 against the MEAC and 5-9 away from Loretto. The team is looking for its first road win against the conference since defeating Coppin State 69-67 in Baltimore in 2011-12. It would end a three-game losing streak on the road against the MEAC with losses at Coppin State (2021-22, 2024-25) and Morgan State (2023-24) since that 2011-12 win. Head coach Keila Whittington is 1-5 against the league, with a win against Morgan State on December 2, 2023 on her resume.
• Saint Francis will be magically whisked away to Delaware for the sixth time in program history and the first time Wayne Campbell can say "Hi, I'm in Delaware," with the Loretto team since facing the University of Delaware in Newark in 2010-11. The Red Flash is looking for its "party time, excellent" win in the first state in team history. Saint Francis is 2-9 against the state, with both wins coming against the Hornets in Loretto.
• The game will be the third of four Kid's Day Out morning games on the schedule and the second against a MEAC team. The Red Flash also played at 11 am against Coppin State and hosted its first Kid's Day Out Game since 2019 against Canisius on November 15. Saint Francis will appear in its final Kid's Day Out Game when it wraps up non-conference play at Rhode Island on December 20.
• It is the team's 11th five-game road trip in program history and the 17th time the squad has been away from Loretto for more than five games at one time. The team had a six-game road trip in 2021-22 under Whittington.
• The team also went on five-game road trips in 1976-77, 1985-86, 1988-89, 1989-90, 1991-92, 2004-05, 2008-09, 2010-11, 2011-12, 2012-13. Along with the six gamer in 2021-22, the Flash went on a six-game trek in 2001-02, 2005-06, 2006-07, and 2016-17, while hitting the road for a program-record seven games in 1998-99.
• Saint Francis returns home from its five-game road trip to host UMBC on Sunday before ending non-conference play with games at Butler on December 15 and at the Kid's Day Out Game at Rhode Island on December 20. The Red Flash will also start NEC play on the road at CCSU (January 2) and Stonehill (January 4) to play nine out of 10 games in 45 days on the road. 

AN SFU WIN WOULD
• Be the team's first win in the state of Delaware
• Be the second win this year
• End the five-game road trip with a win (the team would bookend the road trip with wins after opening the five-game stretch with a win at Robert Morris
• Be the team's third win against Delaware State and the second straight win vsthe Hornets after a win at home on December 31, 1995

ABOUT THE HORNETS
• Delaware State comes into the contest 3-4 after defeating NCAA Division II Bloomfield 76-73 on November 25.
• Mahogany Cottingham paced the Hornets with 24 points. Kiarra Mcelrath added 18 points, and Ericka Huggins chipped in 10 points. McKenzie Stewart hauled in 12 boards.
• Cottingham leads the team with 16.4 points per game, and Mcelrath is also averaging double figures at 10.6 points per game. Stewart is the team's top rebounder at 7.4 rebounds per game.

LAST TIME WE MET
• Saint Francis defeated Delaware State 75-52 in the Hoss's/Red Flash Classic on December 31, 1995. 
• Sally O'Donnell narrowly missed a double-double against the Hornets, finishing with 17 points and nine rebounds. Stacy Alexander, a member of the Saint Francis Athletic Hall of Fame, also had 17 points for the Red Flash in the game.
• Saint Francis would finish 19-11 overall and 13-5 in NEC play on the year and win its first of 12 NEC Tournament titles before playing in its first NCAA Division I Tournament.

LAST TIME OUT
• Despite a career-high 20-point performance by sophomore Yanessa Boyd, Saint Francis lost 85-71 at Duquesne on Sunday.
• Freshman Airah Lavy notched 15 points and junior Natalie Johnson chipped in 10 points.

PRIMED TO BE A PERFORMER
• Sophomore Yanessa Boyd was named a Northeast Conference Prime Performer for November 25-December 1. It was her first conference recognition of her career.
• Boyd averaged 13.0 points per game in the week for the Red Flash, including scoring a career-high 20 points at Duquesne on Sunday to become the first Saint Francis player to reach that mark this season. The sophomore went 8-for-12 from the floor, 3 of 4 from behind the arc, and 1 of 2 from the free throw line against Duquesne.
• Boyd became the second Red Flash player to be named a Prime Performer after freshman Airah Lavy received the distinction for November 18-24. 

TRENDING UP
• Sophomore Yanessa Boyd has 13 career 10+ point games and has areas that she likes to play. The career-high 20 points took place in Pittsburgh at Duquesne on December 1 after she had a then career-high 14 points at Pittsburgh last season. She is averaging 17.0 points per game inside the Steel City. A native of Frederick, Maryland,  the sophomore has five double-figure point games against teams from her home state, including four in the Old Line State. The Maryland State line is only 13 miles from Dover, Delaware. She had 10 points last season against Morgan State at home and has a total of four games with 10 points at DeGol Arena. The two non-conference games (at Rutgers and at NJIT) in New Jersey last year yielded 10+ point games for Boyd, while the outlier in the group was 10 points in Connecticut at Sacred Heart in the NEC Tournament last season. A  connection could be that two of her home games with double figures were against Merrimack and Stonehill, so maybe it's a New England thing. Boyd is averaging 10.0 points per game on the current road trip.
• Freshman Airah Lavy has similar analytics where she registers double-figure games. All three of her 10+ point games have taken place in Central or Western Pennsylvania. She had 16 points against Loyola at home on November 17 and then posted a career-high 19 points against Robert Morris three days later in Moon Township before her 15-point effort at Duquesne. Her three-best scoring outputs were the closest she has come to her hometown of Nelsonville, Ohio. Granted, she is still 174 miles away from home, though when she played in Western Pennsylvania. She is averaging 16.7 points per game in her last three games at Saint Francis and West.
• Junior Natalie Johnson does not necessarily care where she scores double figures, although three of her four 10+ point games this season have come on the road. The three games on the road ended with the junior posting precisely 10 points, while her season-high of 12 points happened in Loretto against Loyola. Johnson has averaged 9.5 points per game in her last two contests.
• After being held without an assist for the first time this season at Saint Joseph's on November 27, sophomore Marina Artero  recorded her second six-assist game against Duquesne. The sophomore also had six dimes at Lafayette on November 9. The stat people at Saint Francis might need to pay more attention when Artero has the ball because she only has five assists in her three home games and 21 assists in six away games. She has three or more assists in all of those games on the road except when she did not record an assist at Saint Joesph's. The sophomore has 15 helpers during this road trip.
• Artero has 29 assists through nine games. She has a chance to have the second-most assists through 10 games under head coach Keila Whittington. Karson Swogger's 52 helpers in 2020-21 is probably the one mark Artero cannot reach through 10 games, but four assists would tie Swogger's 2019-20 mark of 33 for the second-most in 10 games. Diajha Allen (32, 2021-22) is also in reach, while Flippa Goula is the last player to have at least 29 assists 10 games into the season in 2022-23. The one thing about the other four instances is that they were all done by guards and Artero is a forward.
• Junior Jade Campbell continues to make strides as she works back into action after missing more than a year due to injuries. The junior posted three points and three rebounds at Maryland in her first action of the year on November 24, then had four points and a season-high six rebounds at Saint Joesph's on November 27. She then recorded a season-high six points and five rebounds against Duquesne on December 1. She had six games with at least five rebounds and three 10+ rebounds games in her freshman year in 2022-23.