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| Saint Francis Probable Starters |
| Pos. |
No. |
Name |
Ht. |
Yr. |
PPG |
RPG |
FG% |
Note |
| G |
0 |
Aleah James |
5-7 |
Gr. |
17.0 |
3.3 |
45.2 |
Career-high 20 points against Robert Morris |
| G |
1 |
Makyiah Ward |
5-4 |
Fr. |
8.7 |
5.0 |
57.9 |
Grabbed five rebounds in all three games |
| C Â Â Â Â Â Â |
4 |
Sonia Sato |
6-0 |
Gr. |
12.3 |
3.7 |
34.1 |
10+ points in all three games |
| F |
15 |
Cassandra Hawthorne |
5-10 |
Gr. |
8.3 |
7.3 |
42.1 |
Team-best 7.3 rebounds per game |
| F |
23Â Â Â |
Shelby Ricks |
5-9 |
Gr. |
11.7 |
6.3 |
38.7 |
Averaging 14.5 ppg in last two tilts |
| Top Players Off the Bench |
| Pos. |
No. |
Name |
Ht. |
Yr. |
PPG |
RPG |
FG% |
Note |
| GÂ |
3 |
Desire Short |
5-9 |
Jr. |
--- |
--- |
--- |
Did not play in first three games |
| G |
5 |
Kash Holmes |
5-9 |
Jr. |
--- |
--- |
--- |
Did not play in first three tilts |
| F |
10 |
Zaiha Minnis |
5-11 Â Â |
Sr. |
3.7 |
0.7 |
50.0 |
Made a 3-pointer in each game |
| G |
11 |
Bati Assefa |
5-9 |
Sr. |
1.5 |
1.5 |
100 |
Recorded first Red Flash basket vs RMU |
| GÂ |
12 |
Sajol Thornhill |
5-7 |
So. |
1.0 |
1.7 |
12.5 |
Posted three rebounds and three assists vs Duquesne |
| G |
21 Â Â |
Gemma Walker |
5-10 |
So. |
--- |
--- |
--- |
Appeared in 13 games last season |
| G |
33 Â Â |
Giselle Eke |
6-3 |
So. |
3.0 |
1.0 |
25.0 |
Played in first game of 2025-26 vs RMU |
SELECT GAME NOTES VS. LAFAYETTEÂ (FULLÂ GAME NOTES PDF)
FRANKIES TIDBITS IN A FLASH
• Sunday's game between Saint Francis and Lafayette marks the third meeting in the all-time series dating back to the 2022-23 season.
• The Leopards have won both meetings in the series, including escaping with a 60-58 win in the first contest in the series in Loretto on November 26, 2023. Lafayette held a 19-point advantage in the third quarter and had to rally after the Red Flash took a four-point lead in the fourth quarter to earn the win.
• Saint Francis is 15-33 all-time against the Patriot League and has played all nine teams associated with the league except for Army West Point and Boston University. The Red Flash will host Army for the first tilt in the series on November 22.
• The Loretto program has played Bucknell 21 times (7-14), Loyola 12 times (2-10), Lehigh (1-3), and Navy (3-1) four times, American (2-1) three times, and Colgate (0-2) twice each. The Red Flash played Loyola last year.
• Saint Francis is looking to end a five-game losing streak against the Patriot League, with its last win coming at Bucknell with a 64-54 win on November 14, 2012. The Loretto program is also looking for its first home win against the circuit since a 64-56 win against Navy on December 1, 2006.
• Head coach
Chynna Bozeman is still searching for her first win as a head coach. If she can pick up the win on Sunday, she would do so on the exact day of her predecessor, Keila Whittington, who won her first game with a 78-73 victory against Stetson on November 16, 2019.
• Saint Francis played two road games in the Keystone State (at Duquesne and at La Salle) and now returns home for a four-game homestand. In the first 10 seasons in program history, the Red Flash did not play a game outside of the Keystone State. The first time the squad left the Commonwealth for a contest was February 5, 1979, at Stuebenville (now Franciscan). In addition, the squad will play its first five games against state teams, with Robert Morris, Lafayette, and Carnegie Mellon coming to town.
• It is the first non-conference four-game homestand since 1984-85. The Colonials also started the four-game stretch that season just like in 2025-26. While this is just the second time the Loretto program has hosted four in a row in non-conference play, Saint Francis has had 11 four-game homestands in NEC action, although twice those spans included two NEC games and two non-conference tilts.
• Saint Francis continues its homestand against Carnegie Mellon on Tuesday at 11 a.m. for the Red Flash Educational Game. Last year, 1,400 attended the Kids' Day Out game against Canisius on November 15, 2024. The Tartans are an NCAA Division III team coached by Kathy McConnnell-Miller, who is the aunt of Saint Francis men's basketball head coach Luke McConnell.Â
AN SFU WIN WOULD
• Be the team's first win of the season
• Give head coach Chynna Bozeman her first career victory
• Have Bozeman become the sixth head coach to win her first game in Loretto
• Be the team's first win against the Patriot League since 2012
• Be the team's first victory against Lafayette
• End a six-game non-conference home losing streak
•
ABOUT THE LEOPARDS
•  Lafayette comes into the contest 1-3 after defeating Saint Peter's 76-58 for the Leopards' first win of the season on Thursday. Lafayette lost 82-79 to the NEC's Le Moyne on November 9.Â
• Haylie Adamski paced the Leopards with 17 points, while Haley Poser (16 points), Tasha Chudy (14 points), and Brynn Beffert (10 rebounds) each had 10+ in a category against the Peacocks.
• Adamski, a freshman, is averaging 19.5 points per game in her last two contests after a career-high 22 points against Le Moyne. She is averaging 10.8 points per game this season. Poser is also a newcomer in 2025-26, and her 16 points were the first time she reached 10 points in four career games.Â
• Sauda Ntaconayigize leads the team with 12.0 points per game, while Teresa Kiewiet (11.7 ppg.), Chudy (10.3 ppg.), and Talia Zurinskas (10.0 ppg.) are also averaging double figures for the Leopards.
LAST TIME WE MET
• Lafayette used a 17-6 third quarter to take the lead it would not relinquish in a 53-45 win against Saint Francis on November 9, 2024, in Easton.
• Natalie Johnson paced the Red Flash with 10 points, while Alary Bell added eight points, six rebounds, and three steals.
• Abby Antognoli powered the Leopards with 19 points and Kay Donahue added 12 points and nine rebounds.Â
LAST TIME OUT
• The new-look Saint Francis women's basketball team made its 2025-26 DeGol Arena debut on Thursday. Aleah James paced the Red Flash with a career-high 20 points, but Saint Francis could not overcome a Robert Morris run in the first half of a 71-61 loss on Thursday.
• Shelby Ricks (14 points) and Sonia Sato (10 points) also found double figures for the Red Flash.Â
TRENDING UP
• Graduate student Aleah James, who had a career-high 11 points coming into the season at UMES, has recorded double figures in all three games this season and has two games with at least 17 points. James registered 17 points in her Saint Francis debut at Duquesne on November 3, 14 points and a career-high eight assists against La Salle on November 8, before her 20-point performance against Robert Morris on November 13. She had her own 8-0 run against the Colonials in the fourth quarter. The graduate student became the first player in a Red Flash jersey to reach 20 points in a game against Robert Morris, and she also had five rebounds, four assists, and two steals. The five rebounds tied a career best, while she now has 12 assists in her last two games.
• Graduate student Shelby Ricks is averaging 14.5 points per game in her last two games after registering 15 points against La Salle and 14 points against the Colonials. It was her eighth career 10+ point game, while she has five rebounds in all three games and 10 times in her career.
• Graduate student Sonia Sato, who did not record a double-figure point game in three years at Presbyterian, has recorded 10+ points in all three games in a Saint Francis jersey. Sato posted 13 points against Duquesne, a career-high 14 points at La Salle, and 10 points and a season-high six rebounds against Robert Morris. She also had a season-high six rebounds and tied her career-high with three assists.
• Freshman Makyiah Ward was held under 10 points for the first time in her career against Robert Morris, but has stuffed the stat sheet with five rebounds in all three games and at least three assists in all three tilts. The freshman also recorded two steals in each of her first two games, along with 11 points each contest. She is averaging 8.7 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 2.0 steals per game in her first three games, while shooting 57.9 percent from the field (11-for-19).
• First-year head coach Chynna Bozeman's high-energy offense is already doing things that have not been seen since the 2022-23 season. The squad has scored 60 points in three straight games for the first time since February 11-18, 2023. A 60-point game on Sunday by the Flash would mark the first time since January 6-23, 2022, that the team has had at least four consecutive games over 60 points, when it hit that mark in six straight contests.Â
ON THIS DATE
• Saint Francis is 2-6 on this day, including 1-1 at home.Â
• The first time the Red Flash played on this day was a 2001-02 season-opening 75-59 win against Niagara. Carlin Chesick paced Saint Francis with 26 points and 11 rebounds, while Sami Allison (14 points), Tonjee Ward (11 points) and Karen Hewitt (10 points) also found double figures. After not winning the NEC Tournament for the first time in five years, this game kickstarted the second half of the dynasty with four consecutive titles and nine in 10 years.Â
FUN FACTS
• Saint Francis defeated Stetson 78-73 for Keila Whittington's first win as a Red Flash head coach.
• Saint Francis has played three Power 5 teams on this date, including West Virginia twice.
