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| Saint Francis Probable Starters |
| Pos. |
No. |
Name |
Ht. |
Yr. |
PPG |
RPG |
FG% |
Note |
| GÂ |
0 |
Yanessa Boyd |
5-9 |
So. |
7.2 |
3.7 |
34.0 |
Had game-saving steal against Mercyhurst on Thursday |
| G |
4 |
Marissa Shelton |
5-8 |
Jr. |
7.1 |
2.4 |
35.5 |
Averaging 13.0 ppg in last three tilts |
| G |
10 |
Ineivi Plata |
5-3 |
Fr. |
5.0 |
3.4 |
37.2 |
Registered six points, six rebounds and five assists vs. Mercyhurst |
| G |
11 |
Harris Robinson |
5-8Â Â Â Â |
Sr. |
4.1 |
2.8 |
40.4 |
First career double-double with 16 pts, 10 rebs vs. CCSU |
| F |
12 |
Julianna Gibson |
6-2 |
Jr. |
5.1 |
3.0 |
49.5 |
Notched 10 points and six rebounds at Le Moyne |
| Top Players Off the Bench |
| Pos. |
No. |
Name |
Ht. |
Yr. |
PPG |
RPG |
FG% |
Note |
| GÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â |
1 |
Kameryn Dorsey |
5-6 |
So. |
7.0 |
5.0 |
60.0 |
Out for season due to an injury |
| F |
3 |
Jade Campbell |
6-0 |
Jr. |
4.8 |
3.9 |
40.9 |
Two double-doubles on the road |
| G |
5 |
Natalie Johnson |
5-8 |
Jr. |
9.1 |
2.3 |
46.6 |
19 points against Mercyhurst |
| G |
20 |
Airah Lavy |
5-10 |
Fr. |
7.1 |
1.1 |
36.9 |
12 points against Mercyhurst |
| GÂ Â Â Â |
21 |
Gemma Walker |
5-10 |
Fr. |
1.1 |
0.3 |
23.5 |
Notched career-high four points vs Le Moyne at home |
| F |
23 Â Â Â |
Marina Artero |
5-11 |
So. |
1.8 |
3.9 |
34.4 |
Nine games with 5+ rebounds |
| G |
24Â Â Â Â |
Destini Ward |
5-8 |
Jr. |
--- |
--- |
--- |
Team captain in 2024-25 |
| F |
32 |
Fanta Daffe |
5-10 |
Sr. |
0.0 |
0.7 |
0.0 |
Made first careeer start against CCSU |
| F |
33 |
Giselle Eke |
6-3 |
Fr. |
1.5 |
2.3 |
26.2 |
Career-high six boards vs Stonehill |
| F |
34 |
Alary Bell |
6-2 |
So. |
4.9 |
4.2 |
52.2 |
Shooting 51.1 percent in NEC games |
SAINT FRANCIS TIDBITS IN A FLASH VS. FDUÂ (FULL GAMENOTES PDF)
• Saturday's game between Saint Francis and FDU marks the 77th meeting in the all-time series, dating back to the 1985-86 season. The Red Flash leads the series 47-29, but the Knights have won the last five meetings. The last time Saint Francis won in Hackensack was 64-48 on December 16, 2020.
• Saint Francis won its 396th game in NEC history on Thursday and can keep pushing toward becoming the first NEC team to win 400 league games. FDU has the second-most wins among the teams currently active in the conference. The Knights have 324 wins.Â
• There is no dispute that Saint Francis head coach Rob Krimmel is the dean of the NEC in men's basketball, but there can be a debate on this matter in women's basketball. Saint Francis head coach Keila Whittington and LIU's Renee Hayes have been in the league for six years. FDU head coach Stephanie Gaitley is in her second season with the Knights but was also the head coach in the league for nine years at LIU (2002-08) and Monmouth (2008-11) before serving as head coach at Fordham for 11 years. Does consecutive active seasons in the league or number of years in the league make you the dean?
• Gaitley holds a 12-9 record against the Red Flash but is 0-3 against Saint Francis in the NEC Tournament. The Loretto team defeated Gaitley's LIU Blackbirds (yes, they were the Blackbirds before the Sharks) 59-53 in the NEC Semifinals on March 9, 2003, on the way to the NEC title. Gaitley then met Saint Francis in the NEC Tournament as the head coach at Monmouth in 2010 and 2011. The Red Flash downed the Hawks 61-49 in the NEC Quarterfinals on March 6, 2010, and in the NEC Championship Game 72-57 on March 13, 2011. The 2011 championship bout was the last time Gaitley had been in Loretto before last year's matchup.
• With its 70-69 win against Mercyhurst on Thursday, Saint Francis had a trifecta of accomplishments. The Red Flash clinched a home playoff game, won its 10th game of the season, and clinched at least a non-losing record in league play. The last time the team won double digits in a season and had at least a .500 record in league play was 2021-22, while the squad will host an NEC Tournament game for the first time since the 2020-21 season.
• FDU is currently 12-0 in the NEC and looking for its first NEC Tournament title since the Knights won the crown in 1990 and 1992. Sue Steele was a member of those two championship runs. Steele's son, Jeremy Clayville, is a freshman on the Saint Francis men's basketball team.Â
AN SFU WIN WOULD
• Win its third-straight road game for the first time since 2021-22
• Clinch a winning conference season for the 27th time in program history.
• End a five-game losing streak to FDU
• Halt FDU's undefeated conference season and hand the Knights its first home loss since last season
• Improve to 9-5 in NEC playÂ
•Give the Red Flash the tiebreaker with CCSU
ABOUT THE KNIGHTS
• FDU comes into the contest 22-3 overall and 12-0 in NEC play after defeating Le Moyne 65-46 on Thursday. The Knights are 12-0 at home and have won their last 13 games at the Bogota Savings Bank Center. The last loss in Hackensack by FDU was on February 24, 2024.
• Ava Renninger paced FDU with 14 points, while Lilly Parke (13 points), Abaigeal Babore (11 points), and Teneisia Brown (10 points, 11 rebounds) also found double figures against the Dolphins.
• Renninger leads the team with 14.5 points per game, while Brown powers the team in rebounds (9.5 rpg.) and is second in scoring (10.7 ppg.). Babore also averages double figures while pacing the team in assists (80).
LAST TIME WE MET
• FDU defeated Saint Francis 63-55 on January 9 in Loretto.
• Junior
Marissa Shelton paced the Red Flash with a then career-high 15 points, which she would surpass with 18 points against Stonehill on February 23. Fellow juniors
Jade Campbell and
Julianna Gibson added 10 points apiece.
•
Teneisia Brown led the Knights with 22 points, and
Abaigeal Babore added 12 points.Â
LAST TIMEÂ OUT
• Junior Natalie Johnson registered the game-winning basket with 0.4 seconds left to lift Saint Francis past Mercyhurst 70-69 in the first-ever meeting against the Lakers on Thursday. Johnson saved her best scoring output for the final regular season home game with 19 points.
• Sophomore Yanessa Boyd once again came up big for Saint Francis in the waning seconds of the game, registering the game-saving steal under the Mercyhurst basket as time expired.Â
• Freshman Airah Lavy registered 12 points on four baskets from behind the arc for the Red Flash. Boyd finished with six points and six rebounds.
Â
STATE OF THE NEC
• FDU leads the NEC with a 12-0 record. Stonehill sits in second place at 9-3, two games ahead of Saint Francis in the loss column and one game in the win column. The Skyhawks also swept the season series to hold the ultimate tiebreaker with the Flash. FDU, Stonehill, and Saint Francis have clinched a home game in the NEC Quarterfinals on March 10. CCSU can join the hosting party with a win at Stonehill on Saturday and a Le Moyne loss against LIU.Â
• The Red Flash can move up to second with wins in its last three games and four Stonehill losses (CCSU [February 22], FDU [February 27], Le Moyne [March 1], Wagner [March 6]).
• Saint Francis also needs to finish one game ahead of CCSU to have a higher seed in the tournament, unless the Red Flash can beat FDU on Saturday. The two teams split the regular season meeting, but the Blue Devils currently hold the trump card of a win against Stonehill earlier this year. CCSU finishes the year with Stonehill [February 22], Le Moyne [February 27], Wagner [March 1], and LIU [March 6].
• If the playoffs started today, Chicago State would be the Red Flash's opponent in the NEC Quarterfinals.Â
• Le Moyne (4-8), Chicago State (4-9), Wagner (3-9), and LIU (3-9) are the bottom four teams, while Mercyhurst is 6-8 but ineligible for the tournament.
Remaining Schedule For:
• Le Moyne (three home, one away) - LIU (2/22), CCSU (2/27), at Stonehill (3/1), FDU (3/6)
• Chicago State (two home, one away) - at Wagner (2/22), Mercyhurst (2/27), Saint Francis (3/1)
• Wagner (two home, two away) - Chicago State (2/22), LIU (2/27), at CCSU (3/1), Stonehill (3/6)
• LIU (two home, one away) - at Wagner (2/27), FDU (3/1), CCSU (3/6)Â
TRENDING UP
• Moneyball is a good plan, but even the perfect diagram of how things will go does not always work out that way—for example, the numbers for junior Natalie Johnson and freshman Airah Lavy. Coming into Thursday's game against Mercyhurst, Johnson was averaging 5.0 points per game at home with only one 10+ point game, while the junior had nine double-figure performances on the road, including four games with at least 14 points and two 20-point performances. The most points she scored at DeGol Arena before Thursday was 10 points against Canisius on November 15. Since that date, the most points the junior had in a game at home was nine against Wagner on January 20. She then goes out and scores 19 points against Mercyhurst, registering the game-winning basket. Go figure.
• You could almost start Lavy's story the same way as the Dion song "Runaround Sue"... "Here's my story sad, but true..." but her story is weekend/daylight vs. weekday. She is averaging 15.8 points per game on the weekend in Loretto since January and shooting 52.8 percent (19-for-36) from the floor, 64.3 percent (18-for-28) from behind the arc and 100 percent (7-for-7) from the free throw line on the weekend. The freshman has registered eight 10+ point games this weekend, seven of which have been on the weekend. The only game not on the weekend was her career-high 19 points at Robert Morris on November 20 before her 12 points against the Lakers.
• Are these numbers an anomaly? Maybe, but there is always a way to twist the numbers. The game against Mercyhurst was the third time Saint Francis has played a team from Pennsylvania after traveling to Robert Morris on November 20 and Duquesne on December 1. Johnson scored 10 points at Robert Morris, 10 at Duquesne, and 19 at home against Mercyhurst. Lavy registered a career-high 19 points in Moon Township, 15 points at Duquesne, and 12 points against Mercyhurst. I'll take the "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" with the Keystone connection for 100 Alex.
• The game against Mercyhurst also was a number six dream. Freshman Ineivi Plata and sophomore Yanessa Boyd both finished the game with six points and six rebounds, while Plata also had five assists and a career-high tying three steals. Both players have grabbed at least five rebounds eight times this season, and the squad is 4-4 in those games. Plata has dished out five assists five times in her first season in Loretto and the Red Flash is 4-1 when she hits that mark. The one loss was when she had a career-high nine dimes at Duquesne.Â
• Despite finishing her final regular season home game with nine points, junior Marissa Shelton posted double figures in points in seven of the 12 home games including six of the eight league games. She registered over 15 points twice at home in league play, with 15 points against FDU on January 8 and a career-best 18 points against Stonehill on February 23.Â
• The Red Flash clinched a non-losing NEC record with its win against Mercyhurst for the 27th time in team history. Another victory will give the Red Flash a winning season for the 25th time.Â
• After being at home for eight of the last 11 games dating back to when FDU came to Loretto on February 9, Saint Francis will be on the road for its final three regular season home games. It will be the fifth time in NEC history that the team will end the season with at least three road games, joining the 1991-92, 1995-96, 1996-97, and 2014-15 seasons. In the last two years, the Red Flash played its final three games away from Loretto, but the previous game in both seasons was in the NEC Tournament.
