New Haven University  (5-13, 3-4 NEC) at Saint Francis University (2-16, 2-5 NEC)
Date | Time	Saturday, January 24, 2026, 1:05 p.m.
Location	Loretto, Pa. | DeGol Arena
Promotion	Stacy Alexander, Mary Markey, Beth Swink Jersey Retirement Ceremony at 12:40 p.m./Dynasty Celebration Throughout Game
Television	NEC Front Row (Preston Shoemaker,play-by-play, Bernie Jubeck, color analyst)
Live Stats	SideArm
Printable Notes	Saint Francis | New Haven
Stats	Saint Francis | New Haven | 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.	4.9	3.4	40.2	Career-high eight rebounds at CCSU
F	4	Sonia Sato	6-0	Gr.	8.9	3.9	34.2	Posted 13 points against Chicago State
G	12	Sajol Thornhill	5-7	So.	1.2	1.2	14.0	Season-high four steals against FDU
G	21	Gemma Walker	5-10	So.	7.1	2.9	34.7	10+ points in three of last five games
F	23	Shelby Ricks	5-9	Gr.	12.1	6.7	40.4	18 points and 11 rebounds at Chicago State
Top Players Off the Bench
Pos.	No.	Name	Ht.	Yr.	PPG	RPG	FG%	Note
G	0	Aleah James	5-7	Gr.	11.7	3.6	40.9	14 points against Chicago State
G	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 18 tilts
F	10	Zaiha Minnis	5-11	Sr.	4.0	1.8	32.8	Six points, seven rebounds vs LIU
G	11	Bati Assefa	5-9	Sr.	4.9	5.1	33.8	10 points against Wagner
F	15	Cassandra Hawthorne	5-11	Gr.	5.9	4.1	36.8	10 points at CCSU
G	33	Giselle Eke	6-3	So.	2.7	3.2	29.4	Ranks in Top-11 in blocks

SELECT GAME NOTES VS NEW HAVEN (FULL GAME NOTES PDF)

FRANKIES TIDBITS IN A FLASH
• The Red Flash has at least one win against the other 20 schools it has faced in league play, and the next win will be a very special one. Saint Francis has a rich tradition in the NEC, with 399 regular-season wins, and would become the first school in the league to reach that number. The Loretto program already holds the NEC record for regular-season victories.
• That rich history will be on display on Saturday as Saint Francis honors the 30th Anniversary of the start of the "Golden Era of Red Flash Women's Basketball." During the period of 1995-2005, the Red Flash won nine of 10 NEC Championships.
• Saint Francis was one of four teams that won its conference tournament in nine of 10 seasons from 1996 to 2005. Old Dominion won the Colonial Athletic Conference all 10 years, while UC Santa Barbara won nine tournament titles from 1997-05 in the Big West, and Louisiana Tech won the Sun Belt Tournament from 1996-01 and then continued its dynasty in the Western Athletic Conference with titles in 2002-04.
• The Red Flash won five straight tournament titles, then, after a year's break, won four more. Old Dominion won 10 straight in the 10 year span, while Louisiana Tech (9), UConn (seven, Big East, 1995-02), Duke (five, Atlantic Coast Conference, 2000-04), Grambling (five, SWAC, 1996-00), Stephen F. Austin (five, Southland Conference, 1998-02), Austin Peay (four, Ohio Valley Conference, 2001-05), Chattanooga (four, Southern Conference, 2001-04), Green Bay (four, Horizon League, 2002-05), Holy Cross (four, Patriot League, 1998-01) joined Saint Francis with a streak of four of more crowns during this span.
• There were many players that contributed to this unprecedented era of Red Flash women's basketball, but the four key contributors were Stacy Alexander (1992-96), Mary Markey (1994-98), Jess Zinobile (1996-00), and Beth Swink (2001-05). Alexander's arrival, along with head coach Jenny Przekwas, helped create the dynasty. Alexander was the first player in team history to be named Player of the Year in her junior year. Alexander played on three teams that advanced to the NEC Championship team, and the team finally broke through in her senior year. Markey was the first player to earn both NEC Rookie and Player of the Year honors in her career, and as a three-time NEC Champion and two-time NEC Tournament Most Valuable Player. Zinobile was an NEC Tournament champion all four years, the first two-time NEC Player of the Year, and the first to reach 2,000 points in program history. Zinobile, whose jersey was retired on February 9, 2019, is scheduled to attend the event. It's hard to follow the act of Zinobile, but Swink returned the Red Flash to the promised land after a down year following Zinobile's graduation in 2000. She helped the Red Flash to four more NEC titles, the first two-time NEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and the second player to score 2,000 points in her career.
• Saint Francis will play Chicago State and New Haven again next week, with the Cougars visiting Loretto on January 29, and the Red Flash heading to New Haven.
• Circling back to playing a team for the first time. Saint Francis is 7-13 in the first time it plays a team for the first time in an NEC game and 5-3 at DeGol Arena. This will be the fourth-straight time the team will host the inaugural NEC meeting against a team after meeting Le Moyne (2023-24), Mercyhurst (2024-25) and Chicago State (2024-25) for the first time in Loretto. The Red Flash has won the last four times it has played a team for the first time in an NEC game. NOTE: There are plenty of teams Saint Francis has played before meeting in a league game so the record is only for first NEC game. For example, the Red Flash hosted and defeated Bryant in 2008-09, but the first time the two teams played that it counted in the standings was the following year in Smithfield and the Bulldogs won that contest.

AN SFU WIN WOULD"
• Be the team's 400th NEC victory in program history
• Be the first win against New Haven
• Be the 21st different team the Red Flash has defeated in NEC play
• Be the fifth-straight time Saint Francis has won an inaugural meeting against a new NEC team
• Be the third win in the last six games
• Be the second win at home this season
• Honor the legacy on the celebration of the team's rich history with a win

ABOUT THE CHARGERS
• New Haven comes into the contest 5-13 overall and 3-4 in NEC play after falling 66-63 at Mercyhurst on Thursday. The Chargers are 0-7 overall and 0-3 in NEC road games.
• Addisen Sulikowski paced New Haven with 17 points, while Aniya McDonald-Perry tallied 16 points and 17 rebounds against the Lakers. The Chargers made a furious comeback attempt after trailing by 20 points late in the third quarter and trimmed the margin to one point with 43 seconds left, but Mercyhurst hit five of six from the free throw line to seal the win in Erie. 
• Lindsay Hogan leads the team with 12.3 points per game, while McDonald Perry leads the team with 8.9 rebounds per game and is second with 11.4 points per game. Sulikowski is third with 9.3 points per game.

LAST TIME OUT
• Saint Francis could not overcome a late Chicago State run to fall 73-64 on Thursday.
• Shelby Ricks paced the Red Flash with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Aleah James (14 points) and Sonia Sato (13 points) also had double figures.
• After Sato tied the game at 50, the Cougars went on an 11-2 run to take a 61-52 lead with 8:04 left in the fourth quarter. The Red Flash cut the margin to five points on a Ricks coast-to-coast layup with 1:43 left, but could get no closer the rest of the way. 

TRENDING UP
• Graduate student Shelby Ricks has posted three games of 18 points or more and two double-doubles since the season switched to league play. However, since league play began, she has registered double figures in every game so far. Ricks is averaging 19.5 points  and 9.0 rebounds per game in the first game of an NEC weekend and 6.0 points and 5.0 rebounds per game in the second game. Along with her fifth double-double of the season, the graduate student tied her career high with four assists against Chicago State.
• Graduate student Aleah James is averaging 17.5 points per game in her last two games after she posted 19 points against CCSU on January 17 and 14 points against Chicago State. She had 10 points in the fourth quarter against the Blue Devils and then had 10 points in the second quarter on Thursday. Prior to her last two games, James had been held to single digits in her last three games. She has gone three games without reaching double figures twice this season, and both times she had 22 points. The graduate student is looking for her third straight 10+ point game, following her first three games of the season, when she averaged 17.0 points per game. Similar to that streak, James played the first two games on the road before scoring 20 points against Robert Morris on November 13.
• Graduate student Sonia Sato posted double figures for the first time on Thursday since she narrowly missed a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds against Wagner on January 8. Her 13 points against Chicago State matched her NEC high that she had in the NEC opener at Le Moyne on January 2. Similar to James before Chicago State, she is looking for her first back-to-back 10+ point performance since the first three games of the season, when she averaged 12.3 points per game.
• It marked the third time this season that the three graduate students had double figures in points in the same game. The trio combined for 45 points against the Cougars after combining for 43 points against La Salle on November 8 and 44 points against Robert Morris.

IN THE NEC
• Graduate student Aleah James leads the NEC in 3-point field goal percentage (40.9), and ranks seventh in free throw percentage (71.4), seventh in assists (2.75 apg), and ninth in scoring (11.7 ppg).
• Graduate student Shelby Ricks ranks second in defensive rebounds (4.47 rpg), third in blocked shots (0.94 bpg),  fourth in rebounding (6.6 rpg), ninth in scoring (11.7 ppg), and ninth in offensive rebounds (2.18 rpg). Ricks fuels the league in 3-point field goal percentage (50.0) and blocked shots (1.43 bpg) in NEC games. 
• Freshman Makyiah Ward ranks second in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.12) and third in assists (3.11 apg).
• Graduate student Sonia Sato ranks fifth in blocked shots (0.88 bpg) and 25th in scoring (9.0 ppg).
• Saint Francis ranks third in defensive rebounds (24.67 rpg), third in 3-point field goal defense (28.8), fifth in blocked shots (2.83 bpg), fifth in assists (13.17 apg), fifth in assist to turnover ratio (0.70), and fifth in 3-pointers made (5.50 pg). 

IN THE LO'
• Saint Francis is 1-6 at DeGol Arena this year after defeating Wagner 75-67 on January 8 for its first win of the season. The Red Flash are averaging 54.7 points per game and allowing 70.6 points per game at home.
• Graduate student Shelby Ricks paces the team with 11.7 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. Ricks has three 10+point games at home, including a career-high 29 points against Wagner on January 8. She also has a double-double (15 points,10 rebounds) against Lafayette on November 16.
• Graduate student Aleah James has two 10+ point games at home, including a career-high 20 points against Robert Morris on November 13.
• Graduate student Sonia Sato had a career-high 22 points against Carnegie Mellon on November 18 and has scored at least eight points in four of the six games she has played at DeGol Arena.
• Sophomore Gemma Walker is coming off a career-high 20 points in her last home game against LIU on January 10 and is averaging 15.5 points per game in here last two tilts in the Lo'.
• Senior Bati Assefa had her first 10-point performance in her last home game against Wagner. She missed the tilt against LIU due to an injury.
• Saint Francis was 5-3 last season in NEC play at home.

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. 
• 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.