Saint Francis University (7-14, 5-3 NEC) at Le Moyne College  (3-17, 3-4 NEC)
Date | Time	Thursday, February 6, 2025 | 6:00 p.m.
Location	Syracuse, NY. | Ted Grant Court
Television	NEC Front Row
Live Stats	SideArm
Printable Notes	Saint Francis | Le Moyne
Stats	Saint Francis | Le Moyne | 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.	7.4	3.5	34.8	Looking for first 10+ point game since January 2
G	4	Marissa Shelton	5-8	Jr.	6.3	2.0	33.6	Averaging 10.0 ppg in last six games
G	10	Ineivi Plata	5-3	Fr.	4.7	3.5	36.5	Has two games with three steals
F	12	Julianna Gibson	6-2	Jr.	4.9	2.8	50.0	Has one 10+ game on the road this year
F	23	Marina Artero	5-11	So.	1.7	4.1	3.3	Had 11 rebounds in first meeting with Le Moyne
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	Out for season due to an injury
F	3	Jade Campbell	6-0	Jr.	5.9	4.9	43.4	Leads the team in rebounding
G	5	Natalie Johnson	5-8	Jr.	8.9	2.2	49.3	Ranks second in FG% in NEC games
G	11	Harris Robinson	5-8	Sr.	3.4	2.3	38.0	Has a season-high eight points three times this season
G	20	Airah Lavy	5-10	Fr.	6.4	1.2	33.3	Had 14 points in first meeting vs. Le Moyne
G	21	Gemma Walker	5-10	Fr.	1.2	0.3	23.5	Notched career-high four points vs Le Moyne
G	24	Destini Ward	5-8	Jr.	---	---	---	Team captain in 2024-25
F	32	Fanta Daffe	5-10	Sr.	0.0	0.6	0.0	Grabbed two rebounds against Le Moyne
F	33	Giselle Eke	6-3	Fr.	1.9	2.2	28.9	Tied career high for rebounds at Wagner (5)
F	34	Alary Bell	6-2	So.	5.1	4.6	55.4	Averaging 6.3 rpg in last six tilts

SELECT GAME NOTES VS. LE MOYNE (FULL GAME NOTES PDF)

FRANKIES TIDBITS IN A FLASH
• Thursday's game between Saint Francis and Le Moyne marks the fourth meeting in the all-time series dating back to last season. The home team has won the previous three meetings, including the Red Flash taking a 73-41 decision in Loretto on January 11.
• "Give me a break. I don't think they bugged my tuna sandwich." - Albert Gibson from True Lies. Saint Francis is finishing its Le Moyne sandwich that started January 11 in Loretto. Over the 26 days since that game, the Red Flash has added the meat and the cheese of the sandwich by back-to-back weeks of LIU and Wagner home and on the road. Like Tom Arnold's sandwich in True Lies,  the game against Le Moyne will also end a run of teams that have to do with water after facing the Dolphins, Sharks, and Seahawks for the last six games.
• "Time. Time's of the essence. We have a tight schedule." - Frank Gorshin as The Riddler in Batman (1966). After Thursday against Le Moyne, Saint Francis will have completed its season series with the Dolphins, Wagner, and LIU, but still has not played Chicago State or Mercyhurst after nine NEC games. The Red Flash will host Chicago State on Saturday and will battle Mercyhurst for the first time on February 20 to wrap up the home schedule for the regular season.
• The loss at LIU ended a three-game winning streak, the team's longest winning streak since the 2021-22 season when the Red Flash won five straight games. That season was also the last time the squad won consecutive road contests in the final two games of that winning streak.
• Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal are recreating the famous scene in Katz's Deli in New York City from the movie When Harry Met Sally for a Super Bowl ad. The Red Flash's February schedule is kind of like a sandwich. The squad travels to Le Moyne on February 6, and FDU to end the month on February 22 is like the bread, while the four-game home stand against Chicago State (February 8), Stonehill (February 13), CCSU (February 15,) and Mercyhurst (February 20) is like the meat and cheese of the sandwich. If Saint Francis can have a winning month, Rob Reiner's mother from the movie or in the new version Sydney Sweeney would have the chance to say, "I'll have what she is having," because a winning month would be just like a good sandwich with or without Hellmann's mayo.
• The first three home games for the Red Flash will have special meaning for each game. The contest against Chicago State will be the team's Black History Month Game, the game against Stonehill will be the annual Pink Game with the SAAC Push Up Challenge, and the tilt against CCSU will be the team's senior game where it will honor seniors Fanta Daffe and Harris Robinson before the game.
• Saint Francis begins a four-game homestand with Chicago State on Saturday. It will be the first time a team from Illinois will visit Loretto. The Red Flash has played Illinois (2002-03) and Loyola-Chicago (2022-23) on the road in team history.

AN SFU WIN WOULD
• Earn the sweep against Le Moyne for the first time in team history
• Sweep a second NEC team this year (Wagner)
• Begin the month of February with a victory
• Improve to 5-1 against NEC water teams (Sharks, Dolphins, Seahawks)
• Improve to 6-3 in NEC play for the eighth time in team history
• Earn consecutive road wins for the first time since 2021-22

ABOUT THE DOLPHINS
• Le Moyne comes into the contest 3-17 overall and 3-4 in NEC play after defeating Wagner on February 1. After the January 26 meeting in Loretto, the Dolphins have won three of their last four games. All three of those contests were at home on Ted Grant Court. 
• Sierra Linnin paced Le Moyne with 17 points, while Megan Bodziony and Haedyn Roberts added 12 points in the win against the Seahawks.
• Roberts leads the team with 10.8 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. Eli Clark has a team-best 61 assists, while Emily Florvil paces the team in steals (23), and Brianna Williams is the team's top shot blocker (13). 

LAST TIME WE MET
• Saint Francis defeated Le Moyne 73-41 on January 26 in Loretto.
• Freshman Airah Lavy paced the Red Flash with 14 points, junior Marissa Shelton added 10 points, and sophomore Marina Artero hauled in a career-high-tying 11 rebounds. Haedyn Roberts and Eli Clark each had 11 points for the Dolphins.

LAST TIME OUT
• Sophomore Yanessa Boyd and Julianna Gibson led two defensive stands in the final three seconds to help Saint Francis hold on for a 50-48 win against Wagner on January 25. The Red Flash had 12 days off since that game due to the first of two byes in the league schedule on February 1.
• Boyd had the defensive assignment with the Red Flash up one point and altered the layup attempt by the Seahawks. Gibson was pushed to the floor on the rebound attempt, went down, and made 1 of 2 from the free throw line. The junior then knocked the ensuing inbounds pass out of bounds at midcourt with 2.4 seconds left, and then she blocked a potential game-winning 3-pointer in the waning seconds, with Boyd coming down with the rebound to secure the victory.
• Junior Natalie Johnson, who scored the final four points for Saint Francis before Gibson's free throw, led the Red Flash with 16 points. Marissa Shelton chipped in 10 points in the winning effort.

TRENDING UP
• "All you hear is time stand still in travel. And feel such peace and absolute"- "You Are The Everything" by R.E.M. Not often do you hear about a player feeling more comfortable on the road than at home, but that is exactly the case for junior Natalie Johnson. The junior has nine double-figure games this season, and eight of them have been on the road. The junior has registered her two greatest scoring outputs on the road in conference play after posting a career-high 20 points at CCSU on January 2 and 16 points in her last game at Wagner on January 25. Johnson also had three assists in the win against the Seahawks, marking the fourth time this season she has been thrice as nice with helpers, and eight times this season, she has dished out multiple assists in a game. The Red Flash is 3-1 when she dishes out numerous assists.
• While Johnson trends toward double figures on the road, junior Marissa Shelton leans toward home over road splits. The junior has two 10+ point games on the road in her last six road games, but she also has a streak going into Saturday's game of four consecutive games, seven of which are in the friendly confines of DeGol Arena. Shelton has registered double figures in five of her last six games and is averaging 10.0 points per game in that stretch with her Top-3 scoring outputs in that time (15 points vs. FDU [January 8], 13 points vs. LIU [January 18] and 12 points vs. Le Moyne [January 10]).
• Whether you are Joe Cocker or John Belushi imitating Cocker (if you don't know, google it, you won't be sorry), freshman Ineivi Plata makes sure, "Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends." The freshman has dished out 28 assists in conference play and has registered multiple assists in seven of the eight league games, including a pair of five-helper games and a six-assist performance at CCSU. Plata also registered back-to-back double-figure games before her streak was snapped at Wagner, but the stat stuffer is averaging 10.0 points, 4.7 points, and 2.7 assists per game in her last three tilts. The freshman had three steals against the Seahawks, marking the second time in their career she has recorded three thieveries in a game.
• Freshman Alary Bell has registered at least six boards five times in her last six games, including a career-high 13 boards against Wagner on January 20. She is averaging 6.3 rebounds per game in that stretch and is looking for her second 10+ point game since reaching the total at Stonehill on January 4.
• With the women's basketball league-wide bye on January 30 and Saint Francis reaching its first of two byes on February 1, the Red Flash will be going 12 days in between contests. The last time the team went this long between games was when it ended non-conference play at Rhode Island on December 20 and opened NEC play at CCSU on January 2. Saint Francis scored a season-high 79 points after the long layoff the first time. The squad also had a week off for final exams earlier this year.

STATE OF THE NEC
• FDU leads the NEC with a 7-0 record. Saint Francis, Stonehill, and CCSU sit tied for second with a 5-3 record. Mercyhurst is fourth at 4-5 but is ineligible for the postseason, while Le Moyne (3-4), Chicago State (3-5), Wagner (2-6), and LIU (2-7) round out the standings. 
• The Top-4 teams receive a home game in the quarterfinals, so the Red Flash are currently two games up on Le Moyne, thanks to the team's holding the tiebreaker and Chicago State for a Top-4 spot.
• Head coach Keila Whittington will tell you that it's about taking it one game at a time, but next week's schedule could be key to Saint Francis' hopes of hosting a home game in the NEC Tournament with Stonehill (February 13) and CCSU (February 15) both coming to town.
• This will be the 10th time the NEC has a nine-team, 16-game league schedule. Last season, the No. 4 seed finished 8-8, while in 1991-92, a team that won eight games also hosted a game but had to go through a tiebreaker. In 1989-90, 1990-91, and 2022-23, a nine-win team sat in the Top-4, but just like in 1991-92, the 1990-91 four seed was decided by a tiebreaker. In 1986-87, the fourth seed won 10 games, and in 1987-88 and 1988-89, the No. 4 team won 11 games, although in 1987-88, the fifth seed won just six games. 
• Saint Francis is 5-3 at the halfway mark of league play; if they can duplicate those results in the second half, they most likely would be in line for a home game. The Red Flash has a balanced schedule the rest of the way, with four games at home and four on the road.