UMBC (5-4) at Saint Francis University (2-8)
Date | Time	Sunday, December 8, 2024 | 2:00 p.m.
Location	Loretto, Pa. | DeGol Arena
Television	NEC Front Row (Jake Irwin, play-by-play; Bernie Jubeck, color analyst)
Live Stats	Sidearm
Printable Notes	Saint Francis | UMBC
Stats	Saint Francis | UMBC | 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.	8.8	3.2	38.2	Scored 10+ points in five of six games vs. Maryland teams
G	10	Ineivi Plata	5-3	Fr.	3.9	3.4	29.5	Tied for team lead with 32 assists
G	20	Airah Lavy	5-10	Fr.	7.2	1.3	36.7	Notched double figures in consecutive games for second time
F	12	Julianna Gibson	6-2	Jr.	4.6	3.2	44.7	Tallied eight points and seven rebounds at Duquesne
F	23	Marina Artero	5-11	So.	1.4	3.7	21.2	Ranks second in NEC in assist-to-turnover ratio
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.	7.5	8.3	57.1	Career high 17 pts, 19 rebs vs. Delaware St.
G	4	Marissa Shelton	5-8	Jr.	4.5	2.0	25.9	Had nine points at Duquesne
G	5	Natalie Johnson	5-8	Jr.	8.0	1.7	45.9	Career high 14 points vs Delaware St.
G	11	Harris Robinson	5-8	Sr.	3.1	2.0	28.9	Tied season high with eight points at Delaware St
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.	2.0	2.0	31.8	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. UMBC (FULL GAME NOTES PDF)

FRANKIES TIDBITS IN A FLASH
• Sunday's game between Saint Francis and UMBC marks the 15th meeting in the all-time series dating back to the 1987-88 season. The Red Flash leads the matchup 8-6, including a 4-2 record at DeGol Arena. The series was renewed last season in Baltimore, but the tilt on Sunday marks the first battle in Loretto since the 2002-03 season when the Retrievers were a member of the Northeast Conference.
• UMBC is the third former NEC team on the Saint Francis schedule, joining Loyola and Robert Morris. The Retrievers were a league member from 1998-03, and the Red Flash held a 7-4 record in league games against the Catonsville program. The last time the two teams battled in an NEC-sponsored contest was when Saint Francis defeated UMBC 58-41 on March 15, 2003, in the NEC Championship Game. It was the Red Flash's sixth of 12 NEC Tournament titles.
• Saint Francis is 1-6 against the America East, but Sunday's game marks only the third time a team from the America East has played in Loretto, and all three times have been under head coach Keila Whittington. Vermont came to town for the 2022-23 season, while NJIT made its first visit to DeGol Arena in the 2024-25 season opener on November 4. Whittington is 1-3 against the conference with a 73-69 overtime win in Vermont in her first season (2019-20).
• Saint Francis is returning home momentarily after a five-game road trip only to head back out for another four games to have nine of 10 on the road. The 1985-86 team had a comparable road trip when it recorded 10 of 11 games on the road. The 1988-89 team played nine of 11 on the road, the team also had eight of 10 games away from DeGol Arena in 1986-87 and 1998-99. Since the turn of the century, only the 2010-11 team had eight consecutive on the road with a three-game and a four-game homestand sandwiching the long road trip. In 2004-05, the Red Flash played seven of eight on the road.
• After this game against UMBC, Saint Francis will have seven days off for final exams before wrapping up non-conference play with the first-ever meeting against Butler on December 15 and another Kid's Day Out Game at Rhode Island on December 20. The team will then have off for the Christmas holiday before opening NEC play in New England at CCSU (January 2) and Stonehill (January 4).
• It will be the third time under Whittington that the team will not play between Christmas and New Year and the first time since the 2020-21 season. It will be the 28th time in program history the team will have no games over the Christmas-New Year holiday, but only the fourth time since the turn of the century. Along with Whittington's first two years as head coach, the 2018-19 and 2002-03 seasons are the only time in the 21st century this has occurred. The program started in 1968-69, but the first time the team played over the holiday was the 1986-87 campaign.

AN SFU WIN WOULD
• Be the team's first against UMBC since defeating the Retrievers in the 2003 NEC Championship Game
• Be the squad's first win at DeGol Arena in 2024-25
• Be the Red Flash's second straight win for its first non-conference winning streak since defeating Old Dominion 79-68 on November 18, 2017 and Cincinnati 77-73 on November 27, 2017

ABOUT THE RETRIEVERS
• UMBC comes into the contest winners of its last two games to improve to 5-4 on the year after a 65-60 win at Towson on Wednesday.
• Jaliena Sanchez paced the Retrievers with 20 points. Jaden Walker and Jordon Lewis each had 13 points, while Talia Davis chipped in 10 points against the Tigers.
• Lewis fuels the team with 11.9 points per game, while Sanchez averages double figures with 10.0 points per game. Walker paces the squad in rebounds (5.7 rpg.) and is third, with 9.6 points per game.

LAST TIME WE MET
• UMBC defeated Saint Francis 85-53 on December 29, 2023.  
• Yanessa Boyd paced the Red Flash with a then career-high 16 points. Julianna Gibson also had a then career-best 14 points, and Destini Ward added 11 points.
• Trinity Palacio led the Retrievers with 19 points. Jaliena Sanchez posted 17 points and Anna Blount recorded 13 points and nine rebounds. 

LAST TIME OUT
• Junior Jade Campbell registered a career-high 17 points and 19 rebounds to lead Saint Francis past Delaware State 69-60 on Thursday afternoon in Dover.
• Junior Natalie Johnson added a career-high 14 points, and freshman Airah Lavy notched 11 points in the team's second win of the season.


TRENDING UP
• Junior Jade Campbell posted a career-high 17 points and 19 rebounds against Delaware State on December 5. It was the biggest eye-popping stat game since Aaliyah Moore registered 14 points and 20 rebounds at Merrimack on March 6, 2023. That was also Campbell's last game due to injury before her current four-game run in her return. Campbell narrowly missed becoming the third player under head coach Keila Whittington to post 20 rebounds in a game. Along with Moore's game at Merrimack, Jada Dapaa had three 20-rebound games in 2021-22. A 20-rebound game would also rank Top-10 in single-game program history.
• It was Campbell's fourth career 10+ rebound game after registering three in her freshman year, but her output against the Hornets marked the first time she posted over 15 rebounds. It was also her first career 10+ point game of her career after having a then career-high eight points in the regular season meeting at Merrimack on February 9, 2023.  The junior had 13 points on 5-for-7 shooting and 3 of 7 from the free throw line, along with 14 rebounds in her first three games before her career day in Dover.
• Junior Natalie Johnson also established a new career high with her 14 points at Delaware State. She had a Saint Francis-high 12 points against Canisius on November 15 and three 10-point games on the road before her 14 points against the Hornets. Johnson had a career-high 13 points against the College of Charleston with Robert Morris on December 16, 2023. She has recorded back-to-back 10+ point games for the third time in her career and the first time in a Flash uniform. She posted nine points or more in four of the five games on the road trip and averaged 9.0 points per game on the road trip and 12.0 points per game in her last two tilts.
• Freshman Airah Lavy recorded 10+ points in back-to-back games for the second time in her career and the second time in her last six games, including three of the five games on the road trip. Before her 12 points at Delaware State, her previous three double-figure games were either at Saint Francis or Western Pennsylvania.
• Both Johnson and Lavy are looking to register 10+ points in three straight games for the first time in their career. The duo had 10+ points in both Saint Francis wins at Delaware State and at Robert Morris on November 20.
• With UMBC coming to town, sophomore Yanessa Boyd will be facing her home state for the seventh time in her career. She has registered double figures in five of the six games against the Old Line State, including reaching the mark in all four games inside the Maryland State line. Last season, she registered a then career-high 16 points at UMBC on December 29, 2023. Only her 20-point game at Duquesne on December 1 surpassed that career total, while her third-best mark was 14 points at Pittsburgh last season to have two of her three top performances in the Steel City. The 12 points she scored against Canisius are the most points she has posted in a game in Loretto.
• Sophomore Marina Artero has dished out at least three assists in six of the seven road games this season. She did not register an assist at Saint Joesph's but had a career-high six assists at Lafayette on November 9 and at Duquesne. 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 26 assists in six away games. The sophomore had 18 helpers during the five-game road trip.
• Artero and freshman Ineivi Plata are tied for the team lead with 32 assists this year. The 32 dimes are the third-most assists through 10 games under Whittington. Karson Swogger has the Top-2 marks under the coach with 52 assists through 10 games in 2020-21 and 33 helpers in 2019-20. Diajha Allen also had 32 assists through 10 games in 2021-22.
• The Red Flash is looking for its first winning streak since defeating LIU 61-56 on February 3, 2024, and Wagner 76-60 on February 15. The squad is also looking for its first non-conference winning streak since defeating Old Dominion 79-68 on November 18, 2017, and Cincinnati 77-73 on November 27, 2017.