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| Saint Francis Probable Starters |
| Pos. |
No. |
Name |
Ht. |
Yr. |
PPG |
RPG |
FG% |
Note |
| G |
1 |
Makyiah Ward |
5-4 |
Fr. |
4.8 |
3.5 |
39.8 |
Career-high eight rebounds at CCSU |
| F Â Â Â Â Â Â |
4 |
Sonia Sato |
6-0 |
Gr. |
8.6 |
3.9 |
34.0 |
Had 13 points in NEC opener at Le Moyne |
| GÂ |
12 |
Sajol Thornhill |
5-7 |
So. |
1.3 |
1.2 |
14.3 |
Season-high four steals against FDU |
| G |
21 Â Â |
Gemma Walker |
5-10 |
So. |
7.1 |
3.0 |
33.8 |
10+ points in three of last four games |
| F |
23Â Â Â |
Shelby Ricks |
5-9 |
Gr. |
11.7 |
6.4 |
39.1 |
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. |
11.5 |
3.5 |
39.3 |
19 points against CCSU |
| GÂ |
3 |
Desire Short |
5-9 |
Jr. |
1.0 |
0.8 |
15.4 |
Hit first SFU 3-pointer at Stonehill |
| G |
5 |
Kash Holmes |
5-9 |
Jr. |
--- |
--- |
--- |
Did not play in first 17 tilts |
| F |
10 |
Zaiha Minnis |
5-11 Â Â |
Sr. |
4.3 |
1.8 |
33.9 |
Six points, seven rebounds vs LIU |
| G |
11 |
Bati Assefa |
5-9 |
Sr. |
5.1 |
5.1 |
35.8 |
10 points against Wagner |
| FÂ |
15 |
Cassandra Hawthorne |
5-11 |
Gr. |
6.1 |
4.2 |
36.6 |
10 points at CCSU |
| G |
33 Â Â |
Giselle Eke |
6-3 |
So. |
2.7 |
3.4 |
28.0 |
Ranks in Top-10 in blocks |
SELECT GAME NOTES VS CHICAGO STATEÂ (FULLÂ GAME NOTES PDF)
FRANKIES TIDBITS IN A FLASH
• Thursday's game between Saint Francis and Chicago State marks the third meeting in the all-time series dating back to last season.
• Each team won on its home floor, including the Cougars, who won the regular season finale in 58-55 overtime on March 1, 2025.
• The Red Flash just came from the most northern part of the conference with games at Stonehill and CCSU last weekend. After busing to the New England area for nine hours, Saint Francis will board a plane from the Johnstown Airport (yes, they have an airport that goes to Chicago and Dulles) to Chicago, the most western team in the NEC.
• Saint Francis defeated CCSU 74-63 on January 17 for its second win of the season and 399th win in the NEC regular season. The victory was on the 39th anniversary of the first NEC win for the Red Flash in program history with a 98-67 win against LIU on January 17, 1987.
• The Saint Francis men's basketball team has a trend of winning its last six games dating back to its NEC Tournament run by three points or less, including its last two by a buzzer beater. This season, the women's basketball team has posted its two wins on milestones in program history. The first win this season came on January 8 against Wagner, which was the 67th anniversary of the first-ever game in program history, a 59-24 win at Mount Aloysius on January 8, 1969.
• Hopefully it is just a coincidence that the first two wins have come on anniversaries because there are no new anniversaries coming up. Not sure that January 22 being National Polka Dot Day will help. It is also Sam Cooke's birthday so maybe "I don't know much about history… but what a wonderful world it would be" if the Red Flash wins on his birthday for the 400th time in the NEC regular season, and to go into Saturday's game against New Haven to celebrate the "Golden Era of Saint Francis Women's Basketball" with 400 NEC wins.
• After defeating Wagner on January 8, the Seahawks and LIU have been the team the Red Flash has earned the most wins against in NEC play with 49 victories. The game at Chicago State has a Wagner connection with Pam Roecker, one of the great ambassadors of the NEC serving as the color analyst for the game, along with another NEC legend Paul Dottino. Before serving as a color analyst Roecker was the head coach at Wagner from 1990-98. Of those 49 wins against the Seahawks, Roecker was on the Wagner sideline for 10 of those 399 wins. The last game she coached as the 1998 NEC Championship Game.
• Two players Roecker coached against will have their jersey's retired in a ceremony on Saturday against New Haven. Stacy Alexander (1992-96) and Mary Markey (1994-98) both faced Roecker's Seahawks, along with Jess Zinobile (1996-00), a jersey that is already in the rafters. Beth Swink (2002-05) will also have her jersey retired in a pregame ceremony at 12:40 p.m. The celebration is in honor of the 30th Anniversary of the start of the start of the Red Flash dynasty when the women's basketball team won nine championships in 10 seasons. Alexander, Markey, Zinobile and Swink were the four pillars of those great Saint Francis teams.
• The next six games are against teams that Saint Francis has earned six NEC wins in program history with it looking for its 400th NEC win. The Red Flash plays Chicago State twice (January 22, January 29), New Haven twice (January 24, January 31), Mercyhurst (February 5) and Le Moyne (February 7). Each of those teams has joined the NEC in the last three years. Saint Francis has three wins against the Dolphins, two against the Lakers and one against the Cougars, while it will be facing the Chargers for the first time.
AN SFU WIN WOULD"
• Be the team's 400th NEC victory in program history
• Be the first two-game winning streak since defeating Le Moyne (in Syracuse) and Chicago State (in Loretto) on February 6 and 8, 2025
• Be the first time the Red Flash has won back-to-back games since downing Wagner (January 25, 2025) and Le Moyne (see not above)
• Register the first win in the state of Illinois
• Be the third win in the last five games
• End a three-game road trip, 2-1
ABOUT THE COUGARS
• Chicago State comes into the contest 3-16 overall and 2-4 in NEC play after defeating Le Moyne 61-55 on Saturday.
• Brianna Hill paced the Cougars with 12 points against the Dolphins. Keona McGee (11 points, 10 rebounds), Kyara Champagne (11 points), and Tania Allen (10 points, 11 rebounds) also found double figures.
• Aiyanna Culver paces Chicago State with 12.8 points per game, while Kayla Mount leads the team with 4.5 rebounds per game. Â
LAST TIME WE MET
• Chicago State defeated Saint Francis 58-55 in overtime on March 1, 2025.
• Natalie Johnson tied the game with 10 seconds left in regulation, and Harris Robinson gave the Red Flash a 55-53 lead on a trey with 2:22 left, but Aiyanna Culver answered with a 3-pointer at 1:42 in OT to put the Cougars up for good.
• Johnson paced the Red Flash with a career-high 25 points and nine rebounds. Ineivi Plata added 10 points.
• Culver powered Chicago State with 17 points, and Josie Hill had 13 points and 11 rebounds.Â
LAST TIME OUT
• Graduate student Aleah James scored 19 points to lead Saint Francis past CCSU 74-63 on Saturday.Â
• James keyed a 19-3 run after the Blue Devils trimmed the margin to 47-46 with 2:14 left in the third quarter, with nine of her 19 points.
• Cassandra Hawthorne added 10 points in the win.Â
TRENDING UP
• The last time graduate student Aleah James was held to single digits for three straight games, she posted a career-high 22 points at Xavier on December 1. This time, she registered her first 10+ point game in league play, scoring 19 against CCSU on January 17. Both times she was held to single digits, the graduate student scored 22 points in those three tilts. James started the season hot with three-straight double-figure performances and four of her first five games with at least 10 points. She is looking for consecutive 10+ point outputs for the first time since the first three games of 2025-26, when she averaged 17.0 points per game.
• Graduate student Cassandra Hawthorne had a successful return to the New England area with eight rebounds against Stonehill on January 15 and 10 points and five rebounds against CCSU. Hawthorne played her first season of college basketball at Merrimack in 2021-22, when the Warriors were still in the league. The eight rebounds against the Skyhawks marked the first time since the first two games of the season that she had at least eight boards in a game, while it was her fourth 10+ point game and her first since her career-high 24 points at Fordham on December 21.
• Sophomore Gemma Walker had her streak of three-straight 10+ point games halted at CCSU after she finished with six points, although she did have five of her points in the 19-3 run to help put the game away. She has scored double figures in three of her last four games and in four of her last eight 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 averaged 16.0 points per game in her three-game streak, 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 40.6 percent from the floor (24-for-59), 29.1 percent from behind the arc (7-for-24), and 85.1 percent from the free throw line (23-for-27). Walker said, "The game at Pitt was a launching pad for me. It gave me the confidence to play. If I do the right things and listen to the coaches, they are going to steer me in the right direction of where I want to be as a player."
• Graduate student Shelby Ricks had eight points and seven rebounds against the Blue Devils. She has only been held to single digits in back-to-back games once this season, and that was a nine-point game against Army on November 22. The graduate student is averaging 15.8 points per game after being held under 10 points, including a career-high 29 points against Wagner on January 8 and 10 points and 10 rebounds the last time it happened against Stonehill on January 15. Ricks has had a block in five of the six NEC games and has 10 in league play with two three-rejection games.
• 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? In the game against CCSU, she had a career-high eight rebounds along with seven points. The tilt versus 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 nine 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 22 assists in the six league games, and has been held to one assist four 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. Â
IN THE NEC
• Graduate student Aleah James leads the NEC in 3-point field goal percentage (40.0), and ranks sixth in free throw percentage (74.5), seventh in assists (3.06 apg), and 10th in scoring (11.5 ppg).
• Graduate student Shelby Ricks ranks second in blocked shots (1.00 bpg), third in defensive rebounds (4.44 rpg), fourth in rebounding (6.4 rpg), ninth in scoring (11.6 ppg), and 10th in offensive rebounds (1.94 rpg). Ricks fuels the league in 3-point field goal percentage (52.9) and blocked shots (1.67 bpg) in NEC games.Â
• Freshman Makyiah Ward ranks second in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.08) and third in assists (3.06 apg).
• Graduate student Sonia Sato ranks fifth in blocked shots (0.93 bpg) and 25th in scoring (8.7 ppg), while sophomore Giselle Eke is eighth in blocked shots (0.71 bpg).
• Saint Francis ranks second in defensive rebounds (24.82 rpg), third in 3-point field goal defense (28.7), fourth in blocked shots (3.00 bpg), fifth in assists (13.00 apg), fifth in assist to turnover ratio (0.69), and fifth in 3-pointers made (5.59 pg). The Red Flash leads the circuit in free-throw percentage (78.4) and ranks second in blocked shots (3.50 bpg) and second in defensive rebounds (24.67).
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 74-63 win against CCSU on January 18, the Red Flash sits at 399 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 334 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.Â
• 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.Â
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ON THIS DATE
• Saint Francis is 6-4 overall, 1-2 on the road, and 5-3 in NEC play on this date.
• Jess Zinobile registered 19 points and 17 rebounds in a 76-60 win in 2000 at Quinnipiac, the last time the Red Flash was on the road on this date. While this rebound performance does not rank in the Top-10 for Zinobile, she has four of the Top-10 rebounding performances, including a program record 24 rebounds at FDU on January 5, 1998 (Colleen Curley also has three 24-rebound games in her career). Jordin Schaffner (15 points) and Jen DiFilippo (13 points) also registered double figures for the Flash against the Bobcats.
FUN FACT...Â
• This will be the third time Saint Francis has left the state of Pennsylvania on this date. Along with the trip to Hamden, the Red Flash traveled to St. Francis Brooklyn in 1994. The only other road game prior to Thursday was at Juniata in 1973, which is about 40 minutes from Loretto.
• Saint Francis has won four of the last five on this date.Â
