WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
>> Saint Francis Women's Basketball secured their first Northeast Conference (NEC) home playoff game for the first time since the 2019-20 season in a 70-69 win over Mercyhurst Thursday night.

>> Natalie Johnson hit a game-winning layup with .4 seconds left to give the Red Flash the lead for good. The junior guard finished the game with 19 points and went 9-for-13 from the field.

>> Yanessa Boyd secured the steal as time expired to thwart the Lakers' own game-winning chance. The sophomore guard tied with Ineivi Plata with the most rebounds on the team with six and also pitched in six points.

>> Airah Lavy knocked down four of her five three pointers to finish second on the team with 12 points. In the last four games, the freshman guard has scored in double figures three times and has drained 14 threes.

TURNING POINTS OF THE GAME
The game began with a back-and-forth first quarter for the two squads. The teams exchanged buckets until it was 13-13 with 2:27 left. Saint Francis broke the stalemate with four-straight points to help guide Saint Francis to a 17-16 lead after the first 10 minutes.

The second quarter was controlled by the Red Flash. The team got out to a 15-7 run in the first 6:06 to extend their advantage to 32-23. They would use this momentum to go into halftime with a 39-29 lead after a Johnson buzzer-beating jumper.

Coming out of the break, Saint Francis kept their lead above eight points through the majority of the third quarter. Their highest mark was 43-31 and would keep it at 50-40 with 5:18 left. Mercyhurst proceeded to counter with a 7-2 run to close the quarter and cut the deficit to 51-47.

The fourth quarter would be a hotly-contested affair. No team got above a four-point lead and each team shot over 50 percent from the field in the final 10 minutes. With the score knotted at 61 with 3:53 left, the Lakers went on a 8-4 run that was capped off by a three by Allyson Ross to help them go up 69-65 with 1:09 left. Those would be the last points scored by the visiting team, as Marissa Shelton followed up with a three to cut it to one. It helped lead to the game-winning plays by Johnson and Boyd to secure the Red Flash win.

FLASH QUOTES
"Once we got back after Christmas, we really focused on our conference goals and that was the main thing we wanted to do," head coach Keila Whittington said about the team's performance in conference play. "I told them to breath a sigh of relief, but we're still in regular season. We're proud of the feat, but we have to keep fighting each game."

"It was really exciting experience," Johnson said about her feelings on the go-ahead shot. "In my head, I was just praying for the shot to go in honestly. I'm happy with the shot I got. We all contributed to the win, but I'm glad the shot went in."

"Getting in the gym, staying after practice, coming in after practice and continuing to shoot around," Boyd said of how the Red Flash continue to progress as a team. "We're just staying confident and getting better each day. We're finding different things to get better and we're striving to be perfect. I think our confidence is translating to both sides of the court."

"No matter who's scoring, we'll always have each other's back," Lavy said about the bench's reaction to Johnson's game winner. "It's good to know that no matter what, they'll always have my back. After [Johnson] made the shot, everyone came off the bench. It's just a great atmosphere honestly."

FLASH MOMENTS
With the score tied at 11 with 4:06 left in the opening quarter, Johnson closed out the scoring with six-straight points to give the squad the lead going into the second.

The Red Flash scored a quarter-best 22 points in the second quarter that helped them take a 10-point lead. Johnson and Lavy each had six points as a part of the scoring flurry. The team finished the quarter with a 57.1 field goal percentage overall.

With a home playoff game on the line, the Saint Francis offense once again repeated their scoring output in the fourth quarter by shooting 57.1% from the field. Shelton led the way with five points, including her three that ultimately helped lead to the game-winning basket, and was complimented by four points apiece from Plata and Julianna Gibson.

FLASH NUGGETS
As of Thursday, Saint Francis sits as the No. 3 seed at 8-5. With two more wins, the 2024-25 team can surpass the nine victories accumulated by the 2019-20 squad that got to host a quarterfinal game. 

It was the second-most efficient game of the season for the Red Flash offense. They finished Thursday's contest with a 51.8% field-goal percentage to go with 29 made field goals. That offensive performance was only outdone by the 58.6% field goal percentage and 34 field goals in the conference opener at CCSU on January 2.

Johnson has now posted 11 games with double-digit points, including six during the NEC slate. The transfer from Robert Morris is averaging 11 points a game in the 12 conference battles she has participated in.

Plata continues to stuff the stat sheet with six points, six rebounds, five assists, and tied her season-best with three steals. The freshman guard has now recorded a steal in 18 straight games and it is her third time in NEC play racking up three takeaways after first doing it on January 2 at CCSU and doing it again at Wagner on January 25. In 13 conference games, she is tied for fourth in total steals (22) and steals per game (1.7).

After another hot shooting night from Lavy, she is third in the NEC in threes made (28) and tied for the most made per game at 2.3 during conference play.

Shelton finished the game as the third-leading scorer with nine points.

NEXT UP FOR FLASH
Women's basketball will travel to FDU on Saturday to take on the Knights at 2. FDU is currently No. 1 in the conference with a perfect 12-0 record.