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| Saint Francis Probable Starters |
| Pos. |
No. |
Name |
Ht. |
Yr. |
PPG |
RPG |
FG% |
Note |
| G |
0 |
Aleah James |
5-7 |
Gr. |
11.3 |
4.1 |
36.8 |
Leads team in scoring |
| G |
1 |
Makyiah Ward |
5-4 |
Fr. |
4.9 |
3.9 |
45.9 |
Career-high six rebounds in last game |
| F Â Â Â Â Â Â |
4 |
Sonia Sato |
6-0 |
Gr. |
10.3 |
4.0 |
33.7 |
Matched career high with two blocks in last two tilts |
| G |
11 |
Bati Assefa |
5-9 |
Sr. |
5.4 |
4.0 |
52.0 |
Seven rebounds in both games of Turkey Tipoff |
| FÂ |
15 |
Cassandra Hawthorne |
5-11 |
Gr. |
6.4 |
5.0 |
43.2 |
Matched career high with 12 points against Army |
| 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 eight games |
| G |
5 |
Kash Holmes |
5-9 |
Jr. |
--- |
--- |
--- |
Did not play in first eight tilts |
| F |
10 |
Zaiha Minnis |
5-11 Â Â |
Sr. |
4.3 |
1.7 |
35.3 |
Season-high eight points against Lafayette |
| GÂ |
12 |
Sajol Thornhill |
5-7 |
So. |
1.5 |
1.0 |
13.3 |
One of four players to appear in every game |
| G |
21 Â Â |
Gemma Walker |
5-10 |
So. |
2.7 |
3.3 |
0.0 |
Career-high four points and five rebounds against Iona |
| F |
23Â Â Â |
Shelby Ricks |
5-9 |
Gr. |
10.7 |
5.8 |
35.0 |
Leads team in rebounding |
| G |
33 Â Â |
Giselle Eke |
6-3 |
So. |
3.3 |
3.0 |
35.7 |
Matched career-high six points vs Lafayette |
SELECT GAME NOTES FOR XAVIERÂ (FULLÂ GAME NOTES PDF)
FRANKIES TIDBITS IN A FLASH
• "Crabcakes and football. That's what Maryland does," but for Red Flash basketball final exams and playing the Big East is what Saint Francis does, at least for the last two years.
• Saint Francis heads to battle Xavier after going to Butler in the first game after exams last season. It will be the fourth time the Red Flash will face the Musketeers in a series that began in 2001.\
• Saint Francis is 3-31 against Big East teams in program history, but most of the games have come against the Old Big East. The Red Flash has played only Butler, Marquette and Xavier since the reformed Big East began in 2013. The three wins for the Red Flash against the Big East are against Pittsburgh, but only a 65-63 win in the Oakland portion of Pittsburgh in 1997-98 was on the road. The Red Flash faced UConn twice in the NCAA Tournament after winning the NEC Tournament in 1999 and 2002. The two teams also squared off in the 2018 NCAA Tournament before the Huskies returned to the Big East.
• This will be the first time
Chynna Bozeman will serve as a head coach against a power conference opponent.
• Fans at the Cintas Center should recognize the team name of Saint Francis since the Red Flash men's basketball team was just in Cincinnati on December 1. It is the second straight season both the men's and women's teams played at the same Power 5 team after both squads squared off with Maryland in 2024-25. It will be the 11th time this has happened after both playing Pitt in the same year five times, and Penn State, Marquette, Maryland, Minnesota, and Notre Dame each once in the same season.
• Saint Francis will head to Xavier after competing at the Iona Turkey Tipoff right before Thanksgiving. Musketeers head coach
Billi Chambers has never faced the Red Flash, so the closest connection is that Saint Francis just played a tournament at Iona, Chambers' old stomping grounds, or that Xavier just played another NEC school in LIU on Tuesday.
• Xavier associate head coach
Ashlee Kelly, a 2004 graduate of Quinnipiac, averaged 14.7 points and 11.5 rebounds per game against Saint Francis in seven career games, including 16.7 points and 9.0 rebounds per game in Loretto. Kelly's final collegiate game was a 69-62 loss to Saint Francis in Staten Island in the NEC Semifinals on March 7, 2004, where she had 20 points and 26 rebounds in her final game. The Red Flash would go on to win its third NEC Tournament in a row and eighth in nine years.
• Saint Francis heads to Pitt on Thursday to continue its five-game road trip to end non-conference play. The Red Flash will have its final tune-up for NEC play on December 21 at Fordham. Â
AN SFU WIN WOULD
• Be the team's first win of the season
• Give head coach Chynna Bozeman her first career victory
• Be the team's first win against Xavier
• Be the team's first road win against the Big East since defeating Pittsburgh 65-63 on November 25, 1997
• Be team's first win against a power conference team since defeating Wisconsin 103-100 on November 13, 2016
• Be first Red Flash win in the state of Ohio since defeating Cincinnati 77-73 on November 27, 2017
ABOUT THE MUSKETEERS
• Xavier comes into the contest 7-3 after defeating LIU 64-57 on Tuesday. The Sharks mark the second NEC team the Musketeers have played after opening the season with a 54-46 win against New Haven on November 4, for the Chargers' first game in Division I.Â
• Mackenzie Givens powered Xavier against LIU with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Viven Nejasmic added 17 points, and Audia Young had 10 points.Â
• Mariyah Noel fuels the Musketeers with 15.9 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. Givens is second on the team with 13.1 points per game, and Savannah White leads the team in rebounding with 7.2 rebounds per game.
LAST TIME WE MET
• Xavier defeated Saint Francis 78-52 on November 13, 2022, in Cincinnati.
• Flippa Goula paced the Red Flash with 12 points, while Jade Campbell hauled in 13 rebounds.Â
• Mackayla Scarlett was the top scorer of the five players that reached double figures for the Musketeers with 15 points. Fernanda Ovalle (11 points), Courtney Prenger (10 points, 11 rebounds), Taylor Smith (10 points) and Aanaya Harris (10 points) also found double figures in the first meeting between the two teams since 2003.
LAST TIME OUT
• Saint Francis has not been on the hardwood since playing at Iona's Turkey Tipoff on November 28-29. The Red Flash lost 50-31 to the host Gaels on November 28 and then fell to Maine 69-46 in the consolation game on November 29.
• Aleah James was named to the All-Tournament team after posting seven points on the first day and nine points on the second day. Sonia Sato registered 10 points against the Black Bears, and Bati Assefa hauled in seven rebounds in both games.Â
TRENDING UP
• Graduate student Sonia Sato is the only player who has started all eight games this season, while head coach Chynna Bozeman has employed four different starting lineups in her last four games.Â
• The Red Flash has registered 11 blocks in its last two games after posting seven in its first six tilts. Sato has led the rejection charge with a pair of blocks in each of her last two games, matching her career best. The six blocks against Maine marked the first time the team hit that many turned away shots in a game since posting six against Coppin State on December 11, 2022.
• As Joe Cocker used to say, "Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends," and graduate student Aleah James has been doing the best to help out her teammates. After having just one assist in the season-opener against Duquesne on November 3, the graduate student has dished out multiple assists in her last seven games, including two games with three, two with four and a career-high eight helpers against La Salle on November 8.
• Senior Bati Assefa hauled in seven rebounds in both games of the Turkey Tipoff. It was the fifth time in her career that she had corralled at least seven rebounds in a game after turning the trick three times at Chaldron State last season, including a career-high 10 boards against Westminster (Utah) on January 23, 2025.
ON THE ROAD
• Saint Francis is 0-4 away from Loretto, with a 0-2 mark in the state of Pennsylvania and a 0-2 record in the state of New York.
• The Red Flash is averaging 52.5 points per game in the four games on the road and allowing 73.0 points per game. If you break it down by the two games played on the road in each state, the Loretto program averaged 66.5 points per game and allowed 86.5 points per game in those two games in the Keystone State, while it averaged 38.5 points per game and allowed 59.5 points per game in the two games in the Empire State.Â
• The game at Xavier will be the only time the Red Flash will have a non-conference road game outside of those two states with the Loretto program, returning to Pennsylvania to play Pitt on December 18 and will head to the Bronx to face Fordham on December 21.Â
• Graduate student Aleah James is the only player averaging double figures on the road with 11.8 points per game. James has two 10+ point games, with her 17-point performance at Duquesne in the season opener on November 3 the most points scored on the road this season.
• Fellow graduate student Sonia Sato leads the team with three 10+ point games on the road and is averaging 9.3 points per game away from Loretto.
• Freshman Makyiah Ward has two 11-point games in her first two games of her collegiate career, while graduate students Shelby Ricks and Cassandra Hawthorne each have one 10+ point game on the road this season. Ricks' 15 points at La Salle on November 8 are the second-most points scored away from DeGol Arena.Â
AGAINST THE BUCKEYE STATE
• Saint Francis is 13-44 against the state of Ohio and 7-30 in games played in the Buckeye State.Â
• The last time the Red Flash played a team from Ohio was December 9, 2023, when Youngstown State came to Loretto, while the last time Saint Francis crossed the Ohio line was the 2022-23 season when the squad played at Xavier on November 13 and at Youngstown State on December 16 of that season.Â
• The last win against the state of Ohio was a 67-64 win in Loretto against Kent State on December 9, 2020.Â
• Saint Francis looks to end a five-game losing streak in the Buckeye State after defeating Cincinnati 77-73 on November 27, 2017.Â
• The Red Flash has defeated Akron (2011), Cincinnati (2017), Kent State (2012), Miami (Ohio) (2002), Toledo (2004) and Wright State (2012) for its six wins in the state of Ohio.Â
IN THE NEC
• Graduate student Aleah James is second in the NEC in assists (3.5 apg.) and ranks third in minutes played (34.4) and 10th in scoring (11.3 ppg.).
• Graduate student Sonia Sato is fifth in blocks (0.9 bpg.), and 10th in minutes played (31.8).
• Graduate student Shelby Ricks ranks sixth in free throw percentage (67.9), while freshman Makyiah Ward is seventh in assists (2.6 apg.).
• As a team, the Red Flash is third in opponent 3-point percentage (26.7) and fourth in assists (12.25 apg.).
ON THIS DATE
• Saint Francis has only played twice on this date, once at home and once on the road. The Loretto program won its game at home and lost the tilt on the road.
• The Red Flash opened the defense of its NEC Tournament title with an 81-42 win against Robert Morris on this date in 2002. Carlin Chesick paced the Red Flash with 25 points, while Beth Swink (17 points), Karen Hewitt (12 points), and Sami Allison (12 points) also had 10 points. The game was tied at 34 going into halftime, but Saint Francis outscored the Colonials 47-8 in the second half.
FUN FACT...Â
• Jess Kovatch had 37 points on nine 3-pointers against No. 19 South Florida on this date in 2016. It was a record at the time, but one she would break twice: 10 against St. Francis Brooklyn (Jan. 6, 2018) and 11 against FDU in the NEC Tournament (March 7, 2018). The game against South Florida was the first of five times Kovatch would hit at least nine 3-pointers in a game. Oh, and she also dialed long distance with eight triples in a game four times, with one of them coming before she hit the nine against South Florida.
