Saint Francis University (1-15, 1-4 NEC) at CCSU (0-16, 0-5 NEC)
Date | Time	Saturday, January 17, 2026, 1 p.m.
Location	New Britain, Conn. | Detrick Gymnasium
Television	NEC Front Row (Ben Eskins,play-by-play)
Live Stats	Prestosports
Printable Notes	Saint Francis | CCSU
Stats	Saint Francis | CCSU | NEC
Social Media	@RedFlashWBB  |@RedFlashWBB | Facebook

 

Saint Francis Probable Starters
Pos.	No.	Name	Ht.	Yr.	PPG	RPG	FG%	Note
G	1	Makyiah Ward	5-4	Fr.	4.7	3.2	39.8	Ranks second in NEC in assists
F	4	Sonia Sato	6-0	Gr.	8.9	3.8	34.0	Had 13 points in NEC opener at Le Moyne
G	12	Sajol Thornhill	5-7	So.	1.2	1.1	13.2	Season-high four steals against FDU
G	21	Gemma Walker	5-10	So.	7.2	3.0	33.8	17 points at Stonehill
F	23	Shelby Ricks	5-9	Gr.	11.9	6.4	38.4	Leads NEC in blocks in NEC games
Top Players Off the Bench
Pos.	No.	Name	Ht.	Yr.	PPG	RPG	FG%	Note
G	0	Aleah James	5-7	Gr.	11.0	3.5	38.4	Had eight points against Stonehill
G	3	Desire Short	5-9	Jr.	1.3	1.0	15.4	Hit first SFU 3-pointer at Stonehill
G	5	Kash Holmes	5-9	Jr.	---	---	---	Did not play in first 16 tilts
F	10	Zaiha Minnis	5-11	Sr.	4.0	1.9	32.1	Six points, seven rebounds vs LIU
G	11	Bati Assefa	5-9	Sr.	5.1	5.2	37.7	10 points against Wagner
F	15	Cassandra Hawthorne	5-11	Gr.	5.9	4.1	35.2	Eight rebounds at Stonehill
G	33	Giselle Eke	6-3	So.	2.8	3.4	26.5	Ranks eighth in NEC in blocks

SELECT GAME NOTES VS CCSU (FULL GAME NOTES PDF)

FRANKIES TIDBITS IN A FLASH
• Saturday's game between Saint Francis and CCSU marks the 57th meeting in the all-time series dating back to the 1997-98 season.
• Each team won on the road, marking the first time that has happened in the series and just the sixth time in the matchup that the two teams split the season series.
• The Red Flash leads the series 28-18 and holds a 16-10 edge at Detrick Gymnasium. Last year, Saint Francis ended a two-game losing streak in New Britain after winning the previous four meetings in the Nutmeg State
before the losing skid.
• For the older folks, this weekend is reminiscent of the old NEC days when basketball teams would play on Thursday-Saturday or Saturday-Monday. Before the mirror schedule, which debuted in the 2020-21 COVID season, men's basketball would play on Thursdays against an opponent, women's basketball would join the men's team for a doubleheader on Saturday, and then the women's basketball team would play the same team the men played Thursday on Monday at the same location. Not completely the same because there is no doubleheader on Saturday, but the Red Flash women's basketball team played at Stonehill on Thursday, and the men will play the Skyhawks on Monday, while both teams play CCSU on Saturday, but at different sites
• Saint Francis debuted a new look attack at home last weekend. It is not as fast-paced as the Grinnell men's basketball game plan from back in the day, and it might be more similar to Quinnipiac Gold Rush, where the team subs five players in at a time. The system worked in the 75-67 win against Wagner on January 8. Head coach Chynna Bozeman said the switch was to "get us operating at 100 percent segment by segment and to stay focused." Bozeman calls them units, but if the trend continues, it might need a name like the Bobcats Gold Rush. The student section at Saint Francis is called "The Flash Flood," so that might be a good name to try since the Red Flash are flooding the court with a new lineup every couple of minutes. It's not like they run a special play like "The Flying V" with a Mighty Ducks line change.
• Saint Francis comes into the game against CCSU with 398 wins in NEC history, needing two wins to become the first NEC team to win 400 times in NEC regular-season history.
• The Red Flash will leave New England after the game on Saturday, after playing the two teams the most north in the conference, before traveling the furthest west at Chicago State on Thursday. before returning home on January 24 against New Haven.
• The home game against New Haven will be a special event. Saint Francis won nine of 10 NEC Tournament titles from 1996 to 2005, and with this being the 30th Anniversary of that first championship, the Red Flash will honor that legacy by retiring three jerseys that were the pillars of the Golden Era of Saint Francis women's basketball. Jess Zinobile's jersey is already retired, but will be joined by Stacy Alexander, Mary Markey, and Beth Swink. 

AN SFU WIN WOULD
• Be the team's 399th NEC victory in program history
• Be the second-straight win at Detrick Gymnasium
• Split the two games in New England for the second straight season
• Be the first victory on the road this season, and the first since defeating Mercyhurst 80-65 in Erie on March 6, 2025
• Be the second win in the last four games
• Make the six hour ride home from New Britain an enjoyable bus ride back to Loretto

ABOUT THE BLUE DEVILS
• CCSU comes into the contest 0-16 overall and 0-5 in NEC play after falling 80-63 against Mercyhurst on Thursday.
• The Blue Devils are looking for their first win since a 68-63 win against LIU on March 6, 2025.
•  Jessica Farrell paced the Blue Devils with a career-high 21 points against the Lakers, while Lucia Noin (17 points), Kayla Henry (15 points), and Kiyah Lewis (10 points) also posted double figures on Thursday.
• Noin leads the team with 12.2 points and 6.1 rebounds per game, 38 assists, and 26 steals. Lewis (11.9 ppg.) and Farrell (10.3 ppg.) are also averaging double figures. 

LAST TIME WE MET
• With several members of the 2005 NEC Championship team in attendance, Saint Francis was looking for a little bit of that championship magic, but fell 70-67 against CCSU on February 15, 2025.
• The Red Flash had a chance to tie the game at the free-throw line, but missed the front end of two charity tosses. After two drinks at the free throw line by the Blue Devils, Saint Francis had two attempts from behind the arc in the waning seconds, but could not convert.
• Harris Robinson paced the Red Flash with a career-high 16 points and 10 rebounds for her first career double-double.
• Airah Lavy had 17 points off the bench thanks to a 6-for-10 shooting afternoon and 5 of 8 from long distance. The freshman tied the game to force overtime and tied it again in the extra session. Marissa Shelton registered 12 points and five rebounds.
• Belle Lanpher (26 points), Lucia Noin (17 points) and Jessica Farrell (11 points) all had double figures for the Blue Devils. 

 LAST TIME OUT
• Despite cutting a double-digit margin to one point with 92 seconds left, Saint Francis falls 59-57 at Stonehill on Thursday.
• Gemma Walker paced the Red Flash with 17 points, including the 3-pointer to cut the margin to one point in the final two minutes.
• Shelby Ricks added a double-double, finishing with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
• Trailing 52-39 with 1:50 left in the third quarter, Saint Francis went on an 18-6 run to cut the margin to 58-57 with 1:32 remaining in the fourth quarter on Walker's long-distance call. Ricks registered a defensive rebound on the ensuing Skyhawks offensive play, but a traveling call did not allow Saint Francis to get a shot off. Stonehill made the front end of two free throws with 2.2 seconds left before missing the second, and Ricks came down with the board with 1.7 seconds left. After a timeout by the Loretto program allowed the ball to be advanced to the Saint Francis end, Walker had a good look from the top of the key, but her shot did not fall to allow Stonehill to escape with the win.

TRENDING UP
• Sophomore Gemma Walker has scored double figures in three straight games and four times in her last seven tilts. Her 17 points at Stonehill were the second-best total she has registered in her career and marked the first time she has scored double figures outside of the Keystone State. She posted 10+ points twice at home and once in Pittsburgh on December 18, which was also like her home since she lives 18 minutes from the Petersen Events Center. She is averaging 16.0 points per game in her last three games, not bad for a player who had 20 career points in 17 career contests before she registered 15 points against the Panthers in her breakout performance. Since that game at Pitt, she is shooting 41.5 percent from the floor (22-for-53), 31.8 percent from behind the arc (7-for-22), and 95.2 percent from the free throw line (21-for-22). Walker looks to become the second Red Flash player to post 10+ points in four straight games after graduate student Shelby Ricks turned the trick in the final three non-conference games and the NEC opener at Le Moyne on January 2.
• Speaking of Ricks, she notched her fourth double-double of the season with her 10-point, 10-rebound performance against the Skyhawks. She is the only player on the roster to post a double-double and became the first player in 70 games to register consecutive double-doubles earlier this year against Pitt (11 points, 12 rebounds) and Fordham (14 points, 10 rebounds) on December 21. Ricks had her four-game 10+ point streak halted against FDU on January 4, but since that streak began at Xavier on December 1, she has posted double-figures in six of eight games and has three double-doubles. In those eight tilts. Ricks is averaging 13.9 points and 7.4 rebounds per game, while shooting 42.1 percent from the floor (42.1 percent), 50.0 percent from behind the arc (14-for-28) and 81.0 percent from the free throw line (81.0). 
• If you are a baseball fan and hear that someone is a five-tool player, that player is an exciting player. Freshman Makyiah Ward can score, can rebound, can assist, can steal, and can even block at her 5-4 stature. Thats five, so does that make her a five-tool basketball player? The game against Stonehill was the second time this season she has registered a statistic in each of those categories, and the third time she did it in four of the five. She has grabbed at least four rebounds eight times this season, dished out three assists 12 times this season, and registered at least two steals seven times. Back to the assists, she has handed out 21 assists in the five league games, and has been held to one assist three times, two of those times in Pittsburgh. She has also had at least one steal in every game, but two, and both of those contests were against New York teams. 

IN THE NEC
• Graduate student Aleah James leads the NEC in 3-point field goal percentage (41.7) and is seventh in assists (2.71 apg), 12th in scoring (11.0 ppg).
• Graduate student Shelby Ricks is third in blocked shots (1.00 bpg), third in defensive rebounds (4.53 rpg), sixth in rebounding (6.3 rpg), seventh in scoring (11.8 ppg), seventh in free throw percentage (73.5), and seventh in 3-point field goal percentage (37.0). The graduate student leads the NEC in blocked shots in league games (1.80 bpg) and is second in 3-point field goal percentage (64.3)
• Graduate student Sonia Sato is fifth in blocked shots (0.93 bpg), 24th in scoring (9.0 ppg).
• Freshman Makyiah Ward is second in assists (3.19 apg) and second in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.13). The freshman is averaging 4.20 assists per game in NEC play, ranking second in the league. 
• Sophomore Giselle Eke is eighth in blocked shots (0.69), and senior Bati Assefa ranks ninth in offensive rebounds (2.00 rpg)
• Saint Francis is third in 3-point field goal defense (28.8), fourth in blocked shots (2.94 bpg), fourth in defensive rebounds (24.44 rpg), fifth in assists (12.88 apg), fifth in assist-to-turnover ratio (0.68), and fifth in 3-pointers made (5.44 pg). In NEC games, the Red Flash leads the circuit in free-throw percentage (81.1) and is second in blocked shots (3.40 bpg).

DRIVE FOR 400 WINS
• Saint Francis can become the first team in NEC history to reach 400 wins in conference play with three more wins against NEC opponents.
• With its 75-67 win against Wagner on January 8, the Red Flash sits at 398 wins in its 40th year of the circuit. The team has averaged 10.2 wins per season. Mount St. Mary's is the closest team with 355 wins, while FDU is next on the active list with 328 victories.
• Saint Francis has earned a win in NEC play against 20 teams. The only past or present NEC team the Red Flash has not defeated is New Haven, which joined the league this season. 
• Saint Francis has won at least three league games in its first 39 years in the league, which is the mark the Red Flash needs to reach 400 wins this season. The 1988-89 and 2007-08 seasons are the only two seasons in which the team won exactly three games, while in the rest of the seasons, the team had more than three wins. 

 
ON THIS DATE
• Saint Francis is 7-7 overall, 2-1 on the road and 4-6 in NEC play. This will be the second time the Red Flash will play CCSU on this date, after the Blue Devils defeated Saint Francis 74-41 in 2009.
• The Red Flash's two wins away from Loretto on this date were a 72-63 win at Mount St. Mary's in 1998 and a 54-45 win in 2004. Beth Swink, who will be honored in the next Saint Francis home game, paced the Red Flash with 21 points and 14 rebounds in the 2004 win against the Hawks.
FUN FACT... 
• The Red Flash, who is two wins away from 400 wins in NEC history, registered its first league win on this date with a 98-67 victory against LIU in 1987. Saint Francis' first win this season was on the anniversary of the first-ever women's basketball game in team history, which was 57 years ago on January 8.