Wagner College  (6-7, 2-0 NEC) at Saint Francis University (0-13, 0-2 NEC)
Date | Time	Thursday, January 8, 2026, 7 p.m.
Location	Loretto, Pa. | DeGol Arena Court
Television	NEC Front Row (Preston Shoemaker, play-by-play, Bernie Jubeck, color)
Live Stats	Sidearm
Printable Notes	Saint Francis | Wagner
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.	4.7	3.0	40.3	Scored a career-high 15 points at Le Moyne
F	4	Sonia Sato	6-0	Gr.	9.1	3.6	31.7	Ranks second in NEC in blocks
F	15	Cassandra Hawthorne	5-11	Gr.	6.9	4.3	38.5	Scored a career-high 24 points at Fordham
G	21	Gemma Walker	5-10	So.	4.4	3.0	16.7	Started last two games for first starts of career
F	23	Shelby Ricks	5-9	Gr.	11.2	6.0	38.1	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	Made DeGol Arena debut against FDU
G	5	Kash Holmes	5-9	Jr.	---	---	---	Did not play in first 13 tilts
F	10	Zaiha Minnis	5-11	Sr.	4.4	1.7	33.3	Season-high eight points against Lafayette
G	11	Bati Assefa	5-9	Sr.	5.1	5.1	37.0	Nine points against FDU
G	12	Sajol Thornhill	5-7	So.	1.0	1.1	10.0	Season-high four steals against FDU
G	33	Giselle Eke	6-3	So.	3.0	4.1	25.5	Career-high nine rebounds against FDU

SELECT GAME NOTES VS WAGNER (FULL GAME NOTES PDF)

FRANKIES TIDBITS IN A FLASH
• The first documented women's basketball game in program history was on this date in 1969. Saint Francis played down the street at Mount Aloysius and won 59-24.  
• Fast forward 57 years, and the women's basketball team has amassed 682 wins in program history and the most wins in NEC women's basketball history with 397 victories.
• Did you know that on February 25, 1985, was the first time Saint Francis traveled to the state of New York for a game, and that was against Wagner.
• Besides a 70-54 win against Robert Morris on December 15, 1976, Saint Francis defeated Wagner 85-77 for one of the first wins against a future NEC member on January 11, 1986, although the first official NEC win was a 98-67 decision at home against LIU on January 17, 1987.
• Thursday's game between Saint Francis and Wagner marks the 82nd meeting in the all-time series dating back to that meeting in Staten Island in 1985,
• The Seahawks are the most played NEC rivalry among the current membership, but Robert Morris and the Red Flash have met 94 times, and that series began in 1976-77.
• This season marks the 30th anniversary of the start of the Golden Era of Saint Francis women's basketball when the Red Flash won nine titles in 10 years (1996-2005). Wagner was the first-ever postseason win for the program with a 90-70 win at DeGol Arena on March 8, 1994.
• Speaking of championships, two of the Saint Francis' NEC Tournament Championships were against the Seahawks.
• Looking at the more recent results, the Red Flash has won four straight in the series after Wagner took the previous five meetings.
• Saint Francis is 29-11 at home against the Seahawks.
• The Red Flash will conclude its three-game homestand against LIU on Saturday.
• With two games left at home in this homestand, head coach Chynna Bozeman looks to become the sixth head coach to win her first NEC contest at home. Only Myndi Hill and Jill Poe registered their first league wins on the road. 

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 13-game losing streak
• Be the fifth-straight win against Wagner
• Mark the 57th Anniversary of the first Red Flash women's basketball game with win (first game on this date in 1969)
• Be the first win since March 6 against Mercyhurst

ABOUT THE SEAHAWKS
• Wagner comes into the contest 6-7 overall and 2-0 in NEC play after defeating Stonehill 62-59 on January 4.
• The Seahawks had a 152 NET non-conference strength of schedule. Wagner's best non-conference win was a NET 302  67-54 win over Cornell on November 30.
• Lijirin Doyinsola Modesayor paced the Seahawks with 14 points. Irene Fernandez de Caleya added 12 points and 13 rebounds, and Klea Kaci chipped in 12 points. 
• Doyinsola Modesayor leads the team with 10.7 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. Fernandez de Caleya is also averaging 6.4 rebounds per game and leads the team with 26 assists. 

LAST TIME WE MET
• Yanessa Boyd and Julianna Gibson led two defensive stands in the final three seconds to help Saint Francis hold on for a 50-48 win against Wagner on January 25, 2025.
• Boyd had the defensive assignment with the Red Flash up one point and altered the layup attempt by the Seahawks. Gibson was pushed to the floor on the rebound attempt, went down, and made 1 of 2 from the free-throw line. The junior then knocked the ensuing inbounds pass out of bounds at midcourt with 2.4 seconds left, and then she blocked a potential game-winning 3-pointer in the waning seconds, with Boyd coming down with the rebound to secure the victory.
• Natalie Johnson, who scored the final four points for Saint Francis before Gibson's free throw, led the Red Flash with 16 points. Marissa Shelton chipped in 10 points in the winning effort.
• Taleah Washington paced the Seahawks with nine points.

 LAST TIME OUT
• Saint Francis fell to the defending NEC Champion and preseason favorite FDU 73-28 on Sunday, 
• Bati Assefa paced the Red Flash with nine points. Giselle Eke added five points, a career-high nine rebounds and three assists.
• It marked the second time this season, the Red Flash did not have a player score double figures after its game against Iona on November 28.

TRENDING UP
• Graduate student Shelby Ricks was held under 10 points for the first time after posting a career-best four-straight games in the three games in December and at Le Moyne on January 2. Ricks is averaging 13.2 points and 7.0 rebounds per game since the start of December. During her four-game stretch, she had two double-doubles and a career-high 21 points against the Dolphins. It marked the second time this season she had a streak of three or more 10+ point games, following three straight after the season opener, when she averaged 14.6 points and 7.0 rebounds per game during those three tilts. She could be compared to a streaky hitter in baseball because, over the three games between her two runs, she averaged 6.0 points and 2.7 rebounds per game.
• Senior Bati Assefa posted nine points for only the second time in a Red Flash uniform against FDU after a 15-point output against Lafayette on November 16. Assefa has been key on the boards for Saint Francis with six games with at least five rebounds and two games with double-figure caroms. Her 12 rebounds against Xavier on December 1 tie Ricks for the most rebounds in a single game this season. Assefa finished with two rebounds against FDU. The last time she had two boards in a game, she grabbed 11 rebounds against Xavier.
• Graduate student Sonia Sato has scored nine points or more in six of the 10 games she has played. She is averaging 15.0 points per game after scoring under nine points, including a career-high 22 points against Carnegie Mellon on November 18.
• Sophomore Giselle Eke has posted 17 rebounds and 10 assists in her last three games. The sophomore handed out a career-high four helpers against Le Moyne and narrowly missed her first double-digit rebound performance against the Knights, finishing with nine rebounds. Eke has hauled in at least five rebounds four times this season, with three of them coming in her last four contests.
• Graduate student Aleah James is averaging 14.0 points per game in the last three games she played, including a career-high 22 points against the Musketeeers. 
• Saint Francis has begun the NEC slate 0-2 for the seventh time: 1986-87, 1987-88, 1992-93, 2005-06, 2006-07, 2021-22, and 2025-26. The last time the Red Flash started 0-2, it made the postseason after winning eight of its last 15 contests.

IN THE NEC
• Graduate student Aleah James paces the NEC in 3-point field goal percentage (45.5) and ranks second in assists (3.09 apg), second in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.00), fourth in minutes (33.64 mpg), fifth in scoring (12.0 ppg), and sixth in steals (1.55 spg).
• Graduate student Shelby Ricks ranks eighth in free throw percentage (68.3), eighth in defensive rebounds (4.08 rpg), and ninth in the NEC in scoring (11.0 ppg). 
• Graduate student Sonia Sato ranks second in blocks (1.18 mpg) and 20th in scoring (9.3 ppg), while freshman Makyiah Ward ranks fifth in assists (2.77 apg).
• Saint Francis ranks third in defensive rebounds (24.00 rpg), fourth in 3-point field goal percentage defense (29.0), fourth in blocked shots (2.77 big), fourth in assists (12.54 apg), and fifth in assist-to-turnover ratio (0.67).

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.
• 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 7-7 overall, 4-5 on the road and 5-6 in NEC play on this date.
• The Red Flash defeated Wagner 65-63 on this date in Staten Island in 2011. Samantha Leach scored 25 points including the go-ahead basket with 2:18 left to hand Saint Francis the lead for good. Brittany Lilley added 17 points and Allison Daly had 10 points. Alli Williams had 12 rebounds.
FUN FACT... 
• On this date, 57 years ago the Red Flash played its first game in program history. Saint Francis defeated Mount Aloysius 59-24 down the street in Cresson.