FDU  (10-4, 1-0 NEC) at Saint Francis University (0-12, 0-1 NEC)
Date | Time	Sunday, January 4, 2026, 1 p.m.
Location	Loretto, Pa. | DeGol Arena Court
Television	NEC Front Row (Jack Ridenour, play-by-play, Bernie Jubeck, color)
Live Stats	Sidearm
Printable Notes	Saint Francis | FDU
Stats	Saint Francis | FDU | 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	3.3	40.0	Scored a career-high 15 points at Le Moyne
G	11	Bati Assefa	5-9	Sr.	4.7	5.4	37.5	Posted seven rebounds at Le Moyne
F	15	Cassandra Hawthorne	5-11	Gr.	7.5	4.5	40.5	Scored a career-high 24 points at Fordham
G	21	Gemma Walker	5-10	So.	4.4	3.4	18.2	Made first career start at Le Moyne
F	23	Shelby Ricks	5-9	Gr.	11.8	6.4	39.2	Scored career-high 21 points at Le Moyne
Top Players Off the Bench
Pos.	No.	Name	Ht.	Yr.	PPG	RPG	FG%	Note
G	0	Aleah James	5-7	Gr.	12.0	4.0	39.0	Averaged 14.0 ppg in the month of December
G	3	Desire Short	5-9	Jr.	0.0	0.0	0.0	Saw first Saint Francis action at Pitt
F	4	Sonia Sato	6-0	Gr.	9.8	3.8	33.3	Leads NEC in blocks
G	5	Kash Holmes	5-9	Jr.	---	---	---	Did not play in first 12 tilts
F	10	Zaiha Minnis	5-11	Sr.	4.3	1.8	34.2	Season-high eight points against Lafayette
G	12	Sajol Thornhill	5-7	So.	1.1	1.0	11.4	Ranks third with 11 steals on team
G	33	Giselle Eke	6-3	So.	2.8	3.6	26.2	Dished out seven assists in last two tilts

SELECT GAME NOTES VS FDU (FULL GAME NOTES PDF)

FRANKIES TIDBITS IN A FLASH
• For the first time in 44 days, Saint Francis will play a game at DeGol Arena. The Red Flash finished up a four-game homestand in a span of nine days on November 22 against Army West Point and has not played on the DeGol hardwood since.
• In those 44 days, people became full of turkey and stuffing for Thanksgiving and Christmas, the season changed from fall to winter, the year changed from 2025 to 2026, and a 44-year-old Phillip Rivers came out of retirement, played three games, and is pretty much retired again (third-string quarterback this weekend) since that November 22 date. Stranger Things has happened, but that is a Netflix series that released its final episode on December 31.
• Saint Francis hosts FDU in the NEC opener on Sunday. It is the second straight year the Knights will be the home opener.
• The Red Flash leads the series with FDU, 47-30 and 27-12 in Loretto, dating back to 1985-86., but FDU has won the last six in the series.
* The game features an interesting matchup against a vastly different coaching experiences. Saint Francis head coach Chynna Bozeman is in her first season, and one of two Division I head coaches looking for her first win. FDU is coached by Stephanie Gaitley, who is in her 39th season and ranks as the seventh active wins leader in Division I with 737 wins. She is in her third season with the Knights and 12th in the NEC after six seasons at LIU (2002-08) and Monmouth (2008-11).
• FDU last season went 16-0 in NEC play to become the fourth NEC women's basketball team to sweep through the league. Saint Francis was the first to turn the trick in 2003-04 during the Red Flash women's basketball run when it won nine of 10 NEC Tournament titles.
• Weekend doubleheaders in the NEC used to be a tradition, but during the COVID season of 2020-21, the NEC turned to a mirror schedule, and the tradition went away. This will be the first NEC doubleheader in the Lo' since Sunday, February 23, 2020, against LIU.
• The last time the Red Flash participated in an NEC doubleheader with both teams was Saturday, January 29, 2022, at Mount St. Mary's for its Winter Homecoming.
• Saint Francis did have a home non-conference doubleheader on Thursday, December 8, 2022, when the Red Flash women hosted Vermont and the men followed with a game against St. Vincent.
• Saint Francis continues its three-game homestand against Wagner on Thursday and LIU on Saturday. 

AN SFU WIN WOULD
• Be the team's 398th NEC victory in program history
• Be the team's first win of the season
• Give head coach Chynna Bozeman her first career victory
• End a 12-game losing streak
• Stop a six-game losing streak to FDU
• Hand FDU head coach Stephanie Gaitley her first loss in Loretto since March 13, 2011 with Monmouth in the NEC Championship Game
• Be the first win since March 6 against Mercyhurst

ABOUT THE KNIGHTS
• FDU comes into the contest 10-4 overall and 1-0 in NEC play after defeating Mercyhurst 68-46 on Friday.
• The Knights had a non-conference strength of schedule of 235 and went 8-1 against quadrant four teams. FDU's two best wins were a 71-43 win against NJIT (185) on November 25 and against head coach Stephanie Gaitley's former team, Monmouth (200), four days later with a 63-50 decision. 
• Rebecca Osei-Owusu paced the Knights with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Ava Renninger added 10 points and seven rebounds, and Joi Johnson also had 10 points in the NEC opener against the Lakers. 
• Renninger leads the team with 14.6 points per game and 72 assists. Kailee McDonald is second on the team with 11.4 points per game.  Osei-Owusu paces the team in rebounding (7.4 rpg).

LAST TIME WE MET
• FDU defeated Saint Francis 60-33 on February 22, 2025, in the Garden State. 
• Teneisia Brown paced the Knights with 12 points and 12 rebounds, while Lilly Parke (12 points), Ava Renninger (11 points), and Abby Conklin (10 points) each found double figures.
•  The first meeting between the two teams last season in Loretto was much closer, with FDU defeating the Red Flash 63-55 on January 9, 2025. Marissa Shelton (15 points), Jade Campbell (10 points), and Julianna Gibson (10 points) all scored 10+ points for Saint Francis.

 LAST TIME OUT
• Le Moyne closed the game by scoring nine of the last 12 points to down Saint Francis 73-69 on Friday. This was the closest game the squad has played against a Division I opponent.
• Shelby Ricks paced the Red Flash with a career-high 21 points along with seven rebounds. Makyiah Ward also had a career high with 15 points and six assists, and Sonia Sato added 13 points off the bench.
• Sato gave the Red Flash a 66-64 lead on a 3-pointer with 4:37 left.

TRENDING UP
• Graduate student Shelby Ricks posted a career-high 21 points to reach double figures for the fourth consecutive game, setting a new career-high in her NCAA career. She scored double figures in four consecutive tilts as a member of Washington Adventist in 2023-24, when she averaged 14.3 points per game in that span. The graduate student kept her scoring streak going but did not finish with a double-double against the Dolphins, after turning the trick in the previous two games, becoming the first player in 70 games to have consecutive double-doubles. It marked the fifth time this season she has grabbed seven rebounds. Back to her scoring streak, she is averaging 15.5 points and 8.3 rebounds per game in her last four games.
• Freshman Makyiah Ward also had a career-high against Le Moyne with 15 points in her first NEC contest. It marked the first time since her first two collegiate games against Duquesne on November 3 and La Salle on November 8 that she reached double figures when she scored 11 points in both contests. She had a total of 18 points in the nine games in between her double-digit scoring affairs. The freshman also had five rebounds for the sixth time this season, and at least three assists nine times this season, although her six helpers against Le Moyne were a personal best.
• Graduate student Sonia Sato returned after missing two games with her sixth 10+ point game of the season after scoring 13 points on Friday. It is the fourth time she has scored at least 13 points this season and the second time since she scored a career-high 22 points against Carnegie Mellon on November 18. She started her Saint Francis career by scoring double figures in four of her first five tilts. Sato also had a career-high four blocks against the Dolphins and has 10 rejections in her last four games after posting a pair of blocks in her previous three contests before Friday.
• Sophomore Gemma Walker has had a great couple of weeks in a Red Flash uniform. She scored a career-high 15 points "in her backyard" at Pitt on December 18 (Walker grew up 18 minutes away from Petersen Events Center in Venetia, Pa.). She then set personal bests in rebounds (seven) and assists (five against Fordham on December 21), then earned her first career start against Le Moyne and scored six points. 
• Senior Bati Assefa has led the team in rebounds four times this season, and each of those occasions has come in the last six games. The senior has grabbed at least six rebounds in those games, averaging 7.5 rebounds per game in this stretch, and has two 10+ rebound games, including a career-high 12 against Xavier on December 14.
• Sophomore Giselle Eke has 17 career assists, but has registered eight of those dimes in her last three games and seven in her last two contests. She had three assists and a career-high seven rebounds against Fordham and then upped her personal best in assists with four against Le Moyne. 
• Saint Francis scored 69 points against Le Moyne for the second-most points scored this season, behind the 73 posted against La Salle. The Red Flash has scored 60 points in the last two games, marking the first time since the first three games of the season that the team reached that mark. In the nine games sandwiched in between those two stretches, the Loretto program was averaging 47.4 points per game.

IN THE NEC
• Graduate student Aleah James fuels the NEC in 3-point field goal percentage (45.5) and ranks second in assists (3.09 mpg.), third in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.00), fourth in minutes played (33.64 mpg.), fifth in scoring (12.0 ppg.), and sixth in steals (1.55).
• Graduate student Sonia Sato leads the NEC in blocks (1.30 big), and ranks 10th in minutes played (31.00 mpg) and 12th in scoring (10.0 ppg).
• Graduate student Shelby Ricks ranks sixth in the NEC in scoring (11.6 ppg.), seventh in defensive rebounds (4.27 rpg.), eighth in rebounding (6.3 rpg.), eighth in free throw percentage (70.3), and eighth in offensive rebounds (2.00 rpg).
• Freshman Makyiah Ward ranks second in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.06), third in assists (3.00 apg).
• Senior Bati Assefa is eighth in offensive rebounds (2.00 rpg).
• Saint Francis ranks third in 3-point field goal defense (28.4), third in blocked shots (2.92), third in assists (13.08), third in defensive rebounds (24.58), fifth in defensive rebound percentage (.672), and fifth in 3-pointer made (5.50).

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.
• The Red Flash sits at 397 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 9-4 overall and 3-2 at home. The Red Flash will play on this date at home for the first time since the 2015-16 season.
• Jess Zinobile was 3-0 on this date and averaged 28.0 points, 11.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 3.5 steals per game in her last two games on this date in her career. Saint Francis defeated LIU 75-64 (1997), Monmouth 86-63 (1999) and Robert Morris 83-70 (2000) with Zinobile on this date.
FUN FACT... 
• The Red Flash played seven times from 1999-2001 on this date and won all seven games. The first loss on this date was a 76-74 overtime loss to Wagner in 2010.