LIU (8-6, 3-0 NEC) at Saint Francis University (1-13, 1-2 NEC)
Date | Time	Saturday, January 10, 2026, 2 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 | LIU
Stats	Saint Francis | LIU | 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	3.1	40.0	Scored a career-high 15 points at Le Moyne
F	4	Sonia Sato	6-0	Gr.	9.3	4.1	32.6	Career-high nine boards against Wagner
G	11	Bati Assefa	5-9	Sr.	5.5	5.2	38.3	10 points against Wagner
G	12	Sajol Thornhill	5-7	So.	1.1	1.2	11.6	Season-high four steals against FDU
F	23	Shelby Ricks	5-9	Gr.	12.5	6.2	39.7	Scored career-high 29 points against Wagner
Top Players Off the Bench
Pos.	No.	Name	Ht.	Yr.	PPG	RPG	FG%	Note
G	0	Aleah James	5-7	Gr.	11.6	4.0	38.5	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 14 tilts
F	10	Zaiha Minnis	5-11	Sr.	4.0	1.6	31.9	Season-high eight points against Lafayette
F	15	Cassandra Hawthorne	5-11	Gr.	6.5	4.2	38.3	Scored a career-high 24 points at Fordham
G	21	Gemma Walker	5-10	So.	4.7	2.8	19.5	First 10+ point game at home against Wagner
G	33	Giselle Eke	6-3	So.	2.7	3.7	25.5	Career-high nine rebounds against FDU

SELECT GAME NOTES VS LIU (FULL GAME NOTES PDF)

FRANKIES TIDBITS IN A FLASH
• Saturday's game between Saint Francis and LIU marks the 80th meeting in the all-time series dating back to the 1985-86 season.
• The Red Flash leads the all-time series 56-23, but the interesting note about the matchup is that the Sharks have fared better in Loretto than in Brooklyn. Saint Francis leads the series in both locations, but holds a 20-15 record at DeGol Arena and a 32-8 mark in New York.
• As stated in the previous game notes, 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.
• With that anniversary and this being the final trip around the NEC, the Red Flash and the old Blackbirds have had some moments together.
• The first official NEC win was against LIU on January 17, 1987.  The first time Saint Francis scored 100 points was against the Sharks in a 103-93 decision on February 21, 1987.
•  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). Five of the 12 NEC Championships, the Red Flash had to beat LIU in one of the rounds, including twice in the NEC Championship Game (2002 and 2010).
• The five meetings in the Red Flash championship run are the second most. During the 12 Saint Francis crowns, the Loretto program faced Mount St. Mary's six times, while LIU, Robert Morris, and Monmouth are tied for the second most with five games in those 12 years.
• Head coach Chynna Bozeman became the sixth head coach to earn her first Saint Francis win in Loretto, joining Veronica Buzzard (Mount Aloysius, 1968), Myndi Hill (Cornell, 1999), Jill Poe (Cornell, 2003), Susan Frutchl Robinson (Longwood, 2007), and Joe Haigh (Howard, 2012).
• Bozeman became the first women's basketball head coach to earn her first win against an NEC opponent. Rob Krimmel (CCSU, Jan. 3, 2013) and Luke McConnell (FDU, January 4) both won their first game against a league team on the men's side.
• Saint Francis hits the road for a two-game New England swing, starting at CCSU on Thursday. The next time the Red Flash will be back at DeGol Arena will be Saturday, January 24, against a new NEC member. Saint Francis will celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the start of the women's basketball dynasty. Stacy Alexander, Mary Markey, and Beth Swink will have their jerseys retired during the celebration.

AN SFU WIN WOULD
• Be the team's 399th NEC victory in program history
• Be the team's second straight win against LIU
• Have head coach Chynna Bozeman become the fourth head coach to have a winning streak as part of her first coaching win, joining Veronica Buzzard, Jill Poe, and Joe Haigh (Buzzard and Haigh are the only coaches to start their career 2-0)
• Be the first winning streak since defeating Wagner, Le Moyne, and Chicago State from January 25-February 8, 2025

ABOUT THE SHARKS
• LIU comes into the contest 8-6 overall and 3-0 in NEC play after defeating Mercyhurst 86-81 on Thursday. The Sharks are riding a four-game winning streak.
• LIU posted a NET non-conference schedule of 343, with its best win coming against NET 289 Northeastern, thanks to a 75-60 win in the season opener on November  3. 
• Kadidia Toure paced the Sharks with 29 points and 14 rebounds. Janessa Williams (17 points), Hannah Humphrey (12 points), and Kiona Gaines (11 points) also found double figures against the Lakers.
• Toure leads LIU in scoring (19.5 ppg.), rebounding (10.7 rpg.), steals (25), and blocks (17). Williams is also averaging 10+ points at 10.3 points per game. 

LAST TIME WE MET
• LIU defeated Saint Francis 63-56 on January 23, 2025, in Brooklyn. 
• Ineivi Plata paced the Red Flash with 14 points, and Natalie Johnson added 13 points.
• Surviva Legions powered the Sharks with 18 points, while Janessa Williams (15 points) and Brianna Mead (12 points) also had double figures. 
• Seven days prior, Saint Francis defeated LIU 63-54 in Loretto.

 LAST TIME OUT
• Saint Francis jumped out to a 15-point halftime lead en route to a 75-67 win against Wagner on Thursday.
• Shelby Ricks fueled the Red Flash with 29 points. Sonia Sato narrowly missed her first career double-double, finishing with 11 points and nine rebounds. Gemma Walker registered 11 points, and Bati Assefa chipped in 10 points in the first win of the season.
• The 75 points were a season high, while the 39 points in the first half were the most in the opening stanza and the second most points scored in a half this season. The 36 points in the second half were the second-most points scored in the second half and the third-most points in any 20-minute period. The Red Flash had 42 points in the second half against La Salle on November 8.
• The game was on the 57th Anniversary of the first-ever women's basketball game in Saint Francis history, a 59-24 win in Cresson on this day in 1969.

TRENDING UP
• Graduate student Shelby Ricks scored a career-high 29 points and added eight rebounds against Wagner on January 8. It marked the first time a player scored over 25 points since Natalie Johnson had exactly 25 points against Chicago State on March 1, 2025, and the most points in a game since Kendall Carruthers had 32 points against Wagner on February 15, 2024.
 • Ricks has registered double figures in five of the last six games with two 20-point performances since the start of NEC play. She also had four tilts with at least seven boards and two double-doubles. The graduate student is averaging 15.8 points and 7.2 rebounds per game in that stretch. She also had three blocks for the second time this season after recording three rejections against Maine on November 29.
 • Graduate student Sonia Sato narrowly missed her first career double-double after finishing the game against the Seahawks with 11 points and nine rebounds. Her board total was a career high, and she had eight boards twice before, including against Carnegie Mellon when she had a career-high 22 points on November 18. Since she missed the last two games of the non-conference slate, Sato has had two 10+ point games since the start of NEC play.
 • Sophomore Gemma Walker notched her second 10+ point game after she finished with 11 points against the Seahawks. She recorded most of those points at the free throw line, including two to start the game because Wagner did not put its starters on the court before the 10:00 clock. It marks the second time in the last three games on this side of the state she has found double figures after she notched a career-high 15 points at Pitt on December 18. Walker had 12 points in her first season in Loretto and surpassed that total or nearly reached that mark twice in her last five tilts.  
• Senior Bati Assefa tallied her second career 10+ point game, and both times it has occurred in Loretto. The senior posted 15 points against Lafayette on November 16. Assefa is averaging 9.5 points per game in her last contests after scoring a team-high nine points against FDU on January 4. She added seven rebounds for the fifth time this season, and those have come in the last eight games.
• After scoring 28 points against FDU, the Red Flash scored a season-high 75 points against Wagner. It is the first time Saint Francis has scored under 30 points and then hit 70 since it posted 29 points against Robert Morris on March 5, followed by 70 points against Sacred Heart four days later. This was a 47-point swing, but the team had a 64-point gap in a pair of NEC Tournament wins in 2013-14. Saint Francis scored a program-record 132 points in a 132-124 win against Sacred Heart and then defeated Mount St. Mary's 68-63 for a point difference of 64 points.

IN THE NEC
• Graduate student Aleah James leads the NEC in 3-point field goal percentage (44.1), and ranks fifth in assists (2.92 apg.), seventh in minutes played (32.33), and eighth in scoring (11.6 ppg.).
• Graduate student Shelby Ricks ranks fifth in the NEC in scoring (12.4 ppg.), fifth in free throw percentage (73.5), eighth in blocked shots (0.77), seventh in defensive rebounds (4.31 rpg.), ninth in rebounding (6.1 rpg.), and ninth in 3-point field goal percentage (34.9). The graduate student is tied for third in the NEC in scoring in league games (18.0 ppg.).
• Graduate student Sonia Sato is second in blocked shots (1.08) and 20th in scoring (9.4 ppg.).
• Freshman Makyiah Ward is second in assists (3.07 apg.) and second in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.08).
• Sophomore Giselle Eke is ninth in blocked shots (0.73), and senior Bati Assefa is 10th in offensive rebounds (1.92 rpg.)
• The Red Flash sits third in defensive rebounds (24.57), fourth in 3-point field goal percentage defense (28.2), fourth in blocked shots (2.79), fourth in assists (12.79), fifth in field goal percentage defense (44.5), fifth in assist-to-turnover ratio (0.67), and fifth in 3-pointers 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.
• With its 75-67 win against Wagner on January 8, the Red Flash sits at 398 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 5-5 overall, 3-1 at home, and 5-4 in NEC play on this date. The Loretto program has won five of the last six on this date.
• The Red Flash reached 100 points in a game for the sixth time in program history, and for the first time in five years, with a 104-59 win against St. Francis Brooklyn on this date in 2004. Tonjee Ward paced Saint Francis with 22 points, while Beth Swink (21 points, 10 rebounds), Sarah Bolten (21 points), and Karen Hewitt (11 points, 16 assists) also registered double figures. Hewitt's 16 assists are a record that still stands, as she broke Maureen Logan's 12-year record. Saint Francis has reached 100 points in a game 16 times in team history, and the 104 points scored against the Terriers are the sixth-most in a game (second at the time). 
FUN FACT... 
• The Red Flash ended an eight-game losing streak to Mount St. Mary's with a 66-64 win at DeGol Arena on this date in 1995. Though Saint Francis would lose the next two to the Mount, including the 1995 NEC Championship Games, the Loretto program would go on to win eight of the next games in the series, including the 1996 NEC Championship to start the dynasty of nine championships in 10 years.