Chicago State University  (4-17, 3-5 NEC) at Saint Francis University (2-17, 2-6 NEC)
Date | Time	Thursday, January 29, 2026, 7:00 p.m.
Location	Loretto, Pa. | DeGol Arena
Television	NEC Front Row (Preston Shoemaker,play-by-play, Bernie Jubeck, color analyst)
Live Stats	SideArm
Printable Notes	Saint Francis | Chicago State
Stats	Saint Francis | Chicago State | 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.	4.6	3.3	38.5	Career-high eight rebounds at CCSU
F	4	Sonia Sato	6-0	Gr.	9.1	4.5	34.3	First career double-double against New Haven
G	11	Bati Assefa	5-9	Sr.	4.8	5.0	33.3	10 points against Wagner
G	21	Gemma Walker	5-10	So.	6.6	2.9	32.1	10+ points in three of last six games
F	23	Shelby Ricks	5-9	Gr.	11.8	6.7	40.4	Averaging 19.5 ppg and 9.0 rpg in first NEC game of the week
Top Players Off the Bench
Pos.	No.	Name	Ht.	Yr.	PPG	RPG	FG%	Note
G	0	Aleah James	5-7	Gr.	11.4	3.6	38.5	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 19 tilts
F	10	Zaiha Minnis	5-11	Sr.	4.7	1.7	36.6	Matched career-high with 15 points vs New HavenU
G	12	Sajol Thornhill	5-7	So.	1.5	1.2	15.6	Season-high six points vs New Haven
F	15	Cassandra Hawthorne	5-11	Gr.	6.1	4.0	36.3	10 points at CCSU
G	33	Giselle Eke	6-3	So.	2.7	3.2	29.4	Ranks in Top-11 in blocks

SELECT GSELECT GAME NOTES VS CHICAGO STATE (FULL GAME NOTES PDF)

FRANKIES TIDBITS IN A FLASH
• Thursday's meeting between Saint Francis and Chicago State marks the fourth meeting in the all-time series dating back to last season.
• The home team has won all three meetings, including the Cougars with a 73-64 win against the Red Flash one week ago.
• Saint Francis won the inaugural meeting in the series 63-58 on February 8, 2025 before falling in the next two contests in the series in the Windy City.
• This marks the second year in a row that Saint Francis will play the same two opponents in consecutive weekends.
• Last year, the Red Flash played LIU and Wagner in Loretto during MLK weekend and then traveled to New York to face the two teams on their home court one week later. Saint Francis won both games against the Seahawks and then split with the Sharks with the home team winning in that matchup.
• These two weekends are remenisent of the old NEC Rivalry Week from 2009-11 when Saint Francis and Robert Morris played twice in a week span in the Keystone Clash, since each rivalry had a nickname. It was Wagner and Mount St. Mary's when Dave Musil was at the Mount with the North-South Showdown, and the headline "The South Rises" might have been used for a Mount victory in that time, and that might have been the reason the NEC stopped rivalry week since that headline was the last time rivalry week games were played.
• What kind of nickname would rivalry week for Saint Francis and Chicago State be? The Airport Rivalry sponsored by the Johnstown Airport, but Alan Ruck may not like that because he has already seen the airport.
• Next will the Red Flash will play New Haven in Connecticut on Saturday. Could Keystone To Haven Showdown work? Not sure if Led Zeppelin would be okay with that one.
• Saint Francis will attempt to get NEC regular season win number 400 for the third time on Thursday against Chicago State. Maybe third time is the charm? The Red Flash fell to the Cougars in its first attempt and to New Haven 61-60 in its second attempt on January 24. The game against the Chargers would have been a great day to cap an exciting day for Saint Francis women's basketball after celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the start of the Golden Era of Red Flash Women's Basketball with the retirement of Stacy Alexander (1992-96), Mary Markey (1994-98) and Beth Swink (2001-05) jersey numbers.
• With the January 24 game against New Haven, the Loretto program is in the midst of four of five games at DeGol Arena. The homestand is broken up by Saturday's road game at the Chargers, its first trip to New Haven. Saint Francis returns home to host Mercyhurst on February 5 and Le Moyne on February 7. 

AN SFU WIN WOULD"
• Be the team's 400th NEC victory in program history
• Be the second win against Chicago State with both victories coming in Loretto
• Split the season series with the Cougars in a seven-day span
• Be the third win in the last seven games
• Be the second win at home this season
• Be the second time the Red Flash won the opening game of a weekend at DeGol Arena

ABOUT THE COUGARS
• Chicago State comes into the contest 4-17 overall and 3-5 in NEC play after falling 77-76 against Mercyhurst on Saturday. The game ended in a one-point difference, similar to the way the Saint Francis-New Haven game ended with a 3-pointer at the buzzer by the Cougars, setting the final score.
• Keona McGee paced the Cougars against the Lakers with 25 points, while Marisa Gant added 14 points off the bench.
• Aiyanna Culver leads the team in scoring with 12.8 points per game, but has not played since December 17 against Utah State. 
• McGee is second in the team with 9.5 points per game, along with 33 assists, while Kayla Mount is the team's top rebounder with 4.2 rebounds per game.
 

LAST TIME WE MET
• Saint Francis could not overcome a late Chicago State run to fall 73-64 on January 22.
• 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. 

LAST TIME OUT
• On a day that Saint Francis honored the rich Saint Francis women's basketball tradition, the 2025-26 iteration of the Red Flash played right down to the final minute before New Haven prevailed with a 61-60  on January 24. 
• Zaiha Minnis paced the Red Flash with a career-high 15 points, while Sonia Sato posted her first career double-double with 13 points and 14 rebounds.
• Saint Francis honored the "Golden Era of Saint Francis Women's Basketball" with the jersey retirement of Stacy Alexander (1992-96), Mary Markey (1994-98) and Beth Swink (2001-05). In addition, Saint Francis announced its first 2026 Hall of Fame inductee with the 2003-04 Red Flash women's basketball team.

TRENDING UP
• Graduate student Sonia Sato registered her first career double-double with 13 points and 14 rebounds. It is the most rebounds by a Red Flash player at home since Semaya Turner had 15 boards against LIU on February 18, 2023. Prior to arriving at Saint Francis, her best output was nine points against Radford on January 25, 2025, and eight rebounds against Winthrop on January 29, 2025 with Presbyterian. She has eight double-figure point games in a Red Flash uniform and her first 10+ rebound performance. She has registered at least eight rebounds three times this season and had nine rebounds against Wagner on January 8. Sato registered consecutive 13-point games last week for her first back-to-back 10+ point performance since the first three games of the season. The graduate student is averaging 13.0 points and 9.0 rebounds in her last two games.
• Senior Zaiha Minnis tied her career high of 15 points against New Haven. It was her first 10+ point game at Saint Francis and in her career. It was her first double-figure point game since she had 11 points at Drexel on January 5, 2024, with Hampton.  She posted 15 points at Merrimack on January 21, 2023, with Hartford. Prior to her performance against the Chargers, her best output for Saint Francis was eight points, which she reached twice this season, including at CCSU on January 17.
• Graduate student Shelby Ricks should have a good game on Thursday if she continues the trend. 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 6.5 points and 5.3 rebounds per game in the second game. The last time she faced Chicago State, the graduate student led the Red Flash with 18 points and 11 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season. She has posted a double-double in each of her last two weekday games after also having 10 points and 10 rebounds against Stonehill on January 15. 
• Graduate student Aleah James stuffed the stat sheet against New Haven with six points, five rebounds, four assists, and a steal. It was the third time this season that James had grabbed at least five boards and had at least four assists in the same game, and the first time since her first two home games in Loretto. She is averaging 13.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game in her last three tilts.

IN THE NEC
• Graduate student Aleah James ranks fourth in 3-point field goal percentage (37.5), seventh in assists (2.75 apg), and 10th in scoring (11.4 ppg).
• Graduate student Shelby Ricks ranks  third in blocked shots (0.94 bpg), fourth in rebounding (6.6 rpg), fifth in defensive rebounds (4.47 rpg),seventh in free throw percentage (71.4),  eighth in offensive rebounds (2.17 rpg), and ninth in scoring (11.7 ppg). Ricks fuels the league in blocked shots (1.38 bpg) 
• Freshman Makyiah Ward ranks third in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.12) and fourth in assists (3.05 apg).
• Graduate student Sonia Sato ranks sixth in blocked shots (0.82 bpg) and 25th in scoring (9.2 ppg).
• Saint Francis ranks third in defensive rebounds (24.58 rpg), fourth in 3-point field goal defense (29.3), fourth in assists (13.37 apg), fifth in rebounding offense (36.4 rpg), fifth in blocked shots (2.74 bpg), fifth in assist to turnover ratio (0.72), and fifth in 3-pointers made (5.68 pg). 

IN THE LO'
• Saint Francis is 1-7 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 55.8 points per game and allowing 69.4 points per game at home.
• Graduate student Shelby Ricks paces the team with 11.3 points and 5.5 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 gamesat 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 tallied her first career double-double with 13 points and 14 rebounds against New Haven on January 24.  She has scored at least eight points in five of the seven games she has played at DeGol Arena.
• Senior Zaiha Minnis tied her career-high with 15 points against New Haven. Sophomore Gemma Walker had a career-high 20 points against LIU on January 10 and senior Bati Assefa had her first 10-point performance against Wagner. 
• 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. 

Saint Francis Probable Starters
Pos.	No.	Name	Ht.	Yr.	PPG	RPG	FG%	Note

DRIVE FOR 400 WINS
• The Red Flash is 8-5 overall, 6-0 at home and 6-4 in NEC play on this date.
• Saint Francis plays at DeGol Arena on this date for the first time since it defeated UMBC 88-70 in 2000. Jess Zinobile registered 20 points and 13 rebounds, while Jen DiFilippo (15 points), Beth Barnabei (13 points) and Jordin Schaffner (12 points) also found double figures against the Retrievers. 
FUN FACT... 
• The Red Flash defeated Mount St. Mary's in its last regular season trip to Emmitsburg with a 70-58 decision in 2022. Jordan McLemore paced Saint Francis with 19 points, while Katelyn Maxwell (18 points), Sam Miller (12 points) and Jada DaPaa (20 rebounds) also registered double figures for the Red Flash.