| Saint Francis Probable Starters |
| Pos. |
No. |
Name |
Ht. |
Yr. |
PPG |
RPG |
FG% |
Note |
| G |
0 |
Aleah James |
5-7 |
Gr. |
10.5 |
3.8 |
36.3 |
Had 11 points in last road game at New Haven |
| F Â Â Â Â Â Â |
4 |
Sonia Sato |
6-0 |
Gr. |
9.1 |
4.1 |
35.9 |
Team-high 13 points against Le Moyne |
| G |
21 Â Â |
Gemma Walker |
5-10 |
So. |
8.2 |
2.8 |
35.7 |
10+ points in four straight games |
| G |
24 |
Bati Assefa |
5-9 |
Sr. |
4.8 |
4.8 |
33.3 |
10 points against Wagner |
| G |
33 Â Â |
Giselle Eke |
6-3 |
So. |
2.5 |
3.1 |
27.9 |
Eight rebounds in first career start against Le Moyne |
| Top Players Off the Bench |
| Pos. |
No. |
Name |
Ht. |
Yr. |
PPG |
RPG |
FG% |
Note |
| G |
1 |
Makyiah Ward |
5-4 |
Fr. |
4.6 |
3.4 |
39.4 |
Averaged 12.0 ppg in two games against Le Moyne |
| GÂ |
3 |
Desire Short |
5-9 |
Jr. |
1.0 |
0.8 |
15.4 |
Has not played since CCSU |
| G |
5 |
Kash Holmes |
5-9 |
Jr. |
--- |
--- |
--- |
Did not play in first 23 tilts |
| F |
10 |
Zaiha Minnis |
5-11 Â Â |
Sr. |
4.2 |
1.8 |
34.9 |
Matched career-high with 15 points vs New Haven |
| GÂ |
12 |
Sajol Thornhill |
5-7 |
So. |
2.0 |
1.2 |
18.6 |
Season-high nine points vs Mercyhurst |
| FÂ |
15 |
Cassandra Hawthorne |
5-11 |
Gr. |
5.4 |
4.0 |
34.5 |
Three 10+ point games on the road this season |
| F |
23Â Â Â |
Shelby Ricks |
5-9 |
Gr. |
11.7 |
6.5 |
41.0 |
18 points against Mercyhurst |
SELECT GAME NOTES VS MERCYHURSTÂ (FULLÂ GAME NOTES PDF)
FRANKIES TIDBITS IN A FLASH
• Saturday's game between Saint Francis and Mercyhurst marks the fourth meeting in the all-time series dating back to 2024-25.
• The Lakers earned a 79-59 win in Loretto nine days ago for their first victory in the series after the Red Flash won both meetings last season.
• The game features two first-year head coaches, and the two coaches won their first game as head coaches within four days of each other. The Lakers'
Erin Mills-Reid won her first game with a 89-72 win at Le Moyne on January 4, and Saint Francis'
Chynna Bozeman earned her first victory with a 75-67 decision against Wagner on January 8 at DeGol Arena.
• This is the 19th time Saint Francis has played on Valentine's Day and the first since 2021 at St. Francis Brooklyn. The Red Flash lost that game in 2021 to end a six-game conference winning streak to start the season.
• It will be the eighth time the Red Flash will be on the road on Valentine's Day, but it will mark the fourth time the squad stays in the Keystone State for the holiday brought to you by flower shops, candy, and greeting cards. Saint Francis has played at Duquesne (1978) and Robert Morris (2011) in Western Pennsylvania, and played 25 minutes away at Penn State Altoona in 1973. The Red Flash has also traveled to Brooklyn twice to play the Terriers (1998, 2021) and to Connecticut twice (Quinnipiac, 2004; Sacred Heart, 2009).
• This will be the first time this season the Red Flash has played on a holiday. We will see if it has the same effect as historic days in Saint Francis women's basketball history. Saint Francis defeated Wagner 75-67 on January 8, which was the 47th Anniversary of the first-ever women's basketball game in Red Flash history, a 59-24 victory at Mount Aloysius on January 8, 1969. The second Saint Francis win was a 74-63 win against CCSU on January 17, which fell on the 39th Anniversary of the first-ever NEC win, a 98-67 win against LIU on January 17, 1987.
• With that win at CCSU, the Red Flash earned its 399th win in NEC history and is going for win No. 400 for the sixth time on Saturday in Erie.
• The tilt at Mercyhurst begins a three-game road trip, its longest in NEC play. After the game with the Lakers, the Red Flash will head to New York to face LIU on February 19 and Wagner on February 21.
• Saint Francis had a four-game road trip that encompassed the final three non-conference games and the NEC opener at Le Moyne on January 2.
AN SFU WIN WOULD"
• Be the team's 400th NEC victory in program history
• Split the season series with Mercyhurst
• Be the second win in Erie
• Be the first win in February
• End a six-game losing streak
• Be the 12th win on Valentine's Day and the first since an 87-75 win against LIU in 2015
• Start a three-game road trip with a win
ABOUT THE LAKERS
• Mercyhurst comes into the contest 8-15 overall and 8-4 in NEC play after falling 84-64 at FDU on February 7. The game in Hackensack was the only tilt in between the game at Saint Francis, but thanks to a league-wide bye on February 12, the two teams are meeting for the first time in nine days.
• Cici Hernandez and Jenna Van Schaik paced Mercyhurst with 20 points apiece against the Knights. Sofia Wilson added 14 points.
• Hernandez powers the team with 13.4 points per game. Van Schailk is averaging 11.8 points per game and ranks second in both assists (72) and steals (32). Wilson leads the team in assists (77) and steals (35), and ranks third in scoring (11.4 ppg), while Lena Walz is also averaging double figures with 10.7 points per game.
LAST TIME WE MET
• Thanks to a 28-12 first quarter, Mercyhurst defeated Saint Francis 79-59 at DeGol Arena on February 5. Without the first 10 minutes, the Red Flash hung with the Lakers with only a four-point differential in the final 30 minutes.
• Shelby Ricks paced Saint Francis with 18 points, while Gemma Walker added 14 points.
• Jenna Van Schaik fueled Mercyhurst with 23 points. Cici Hernandez (15 points), Erica Hall (14 points), and Lena Walz (11 points) also recorded double figures in the first meeting of 2025-26.
LAST TIME OUT
• Saint Francis dropped a 62-50 decision against Le Moyne on February 7.
• Sonia Sato led the Red Flash with 13 points, including 11 in the first half, while Gemma Walker chipped in 11 points.
TRENDING UP
• Sophomore Gemma Walker has scored double figures in four-straight games and is averaging 13.8 points per game in this stretch. The five-gamer is tied for the team's longest with graduate student Shelby Ricks, who had five consecutive games with 10+ points to end non-conference play. It also ends a streak of three for Walker, who had a breakout game against Pitt with 15 points on December 18, three straight games in single digits (eight total points), three consecutive 10+ point games (averaged 16.0 points per game), another three games under 10 points (14 points total) leading up to her current run of four-straight 10+ point games.Â
• Graduate student Sonia Sato almost had a similar it comes in threes streak, but her 13 points against Le Moyne on February 7 avoided her third straight game under 10 points. In her last nine games, she had three tilts under 10 points (18 points total), three games in double figures (13.7 points per game), before two games where she posted nine total points, and her home performance against the Dolphins. The three-game streak was the second of her career. Ricks and Sato are the only two players to have a pair of streaks of three or more 10+ point games.Â
• Freshman Makyiah Ward has 24 points in two games against Le Moyne and 33 points in games scored against the rest of the league. It is kind of reminiscent of the start of her career, when she had 22 points in her first two games and then 22 in her next nine before her career-high 15 points at Le Moyne on January 2. While the freshman shows flashes of her scoring ability, she contributes in other ways, like registering six rebounds against the Dolphins in the February meeting. It was the 10th time she had corralled at least five boards in a contest this season, tying her for second on the team, and the other two are forwards.
• Sophomore Giselle Eke registered two points and eight rebounds in her first collegiate start. The eight rebounds were the second most of her career after she grabbed a career-high nine boards against FDU on January 4. The sophomore also had seven caroms against Fordham on December 21.
• Despite not playing in the last game, Ricks is enjoying the third 10+ point scoring streak of her Red Flash career after scoring double figures in consecutive games for the first time in NEC play. She is averaging 14.0 points per game in her last two tilts. The previous two times she had a run of 10+ point games were a three-game streak early in non-conference play, when she averaged 14.6 points and 7.0 rebounds per game, and a 15.5 points and 8.3 rebounds per game run in the final four games of non-conference play. Both streaks she had at least one double-double, so is a trick coming in this run?
IN THE NEC
• Graduate student Aleah James ranks fifth in assists (2.90 apg) in the NEC, 10th in 3-point field goal percentage (35.7), and 20th in scoring (10.5 ppg).
• Graduate student Shelby Ricks ranks fourth in blocked shots (1.00 bpg), seventh in rebounding (6.4 rpg), eighth in offensive rebounds (2.24 rpg), eighth in free throw percentage (74.2), ninth in defensive rebounds (4.19 rpg), and 13th in scoring (11.6 ppg). She is second in 3-point field goal percentage (44.0) in league games.Â
• Freshman Makyiah Ward ranks seventh in assists (2.82 apg).
• Graduate student Sonia Sato ranks ninth in blocked shots (0.76 bpg) and 27th in scoring (9.2 ppg).
• Sophomore Gemma Walker is seventh in free-throw percentage (76.1).
• Saint Francis ranks third in defensive rebounds (24.43 rpg), fourth in 3-point field goal defense (29.1), fourth in rebounding offense (35.9 rpg), fifth in assists (13.13 apg), fifth in defensive rebound percentage (0.675), fifth in blocked shots (2.70 bpg), and fifth in 3-pointers made (5.65pg). The Red Flash is second in league play in free-throw percentage (76.3).
ON THE ROAD
• Saint Francis is 1-11 on the road (0-10 in road games, 0-1 in neutral site games) and 1-4 in NEC play this season.Â
• The Red Flash is averaging 57.3 points per game and allowing 72.0 points per game on the road.Â
• This will be the fourth road game in the state of Pennsylvania after playing at Duquesne (November 3), La Salle (November 8), and at Pittsburgh (December 18). Saint Francis is looking for its first win against a fellow Keystone State team.
• Graduate student Aleah James is averaging 12.8 points per game, while fellow graduate student Shelby Ricks is averaging 12.1 points and 7.1 rebounds per game.Â
• James has scored double figures six times on the road, including her last three tilts away from Loretto. She is averaging 14.7 points in her last three road tilts and 10.4 points per game in NEC road games. James had a career-high 22 points at Xavier on December 14. Ricks has eight games with 10+ points on the road, and has reached double figures in seven of her last games outside of the Lo'. She is averaging 13.5 points per game in that stretch and 13.4 points per game in NEC road games. Ricks has four double-doubles on the road. Â
• Graduate student Sonia Sato has five 10+ points games on the road, including three games with 13 points and a 14-point performance at La Salle on November 8. Sophomore Gemma Walker has three 10+ point games in her last seven games, including a 17-point performance at Stonehill on January 15. Graduate student Cassandra Hawthorne has a pair of 10+ point games, including a career-high 24 points at Fordham on December 21, while freshman Makyiah Ward had 11 points and five rebounds in her first two road games of her career.
• Senior Bati Assefa has two 10+ rebound games on the road.
• Saint Francis was 6-11 on the road overall, and 4-4 in NEC play last season.
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 340 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.Â
• 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.Â
ON THIS DATE
•Saint Francis is 11-7 overall, 3-3 on the road, and 7-2 in NEC play on this date. The Red Flash has lost the last two road games and will face a Pennsylvania team for the eighth time on this date, the first since defeating Mount Aloysius in 1984.
• Saint Francis defeated Quinnipiac 57-55 on this date in 2004 in Hamden, Connecticut. It was the only time that season the Red Flash won by one possession (three points or less) in NEC play, including the NEC Tournament. Saint Francis went 18-0 on the year, and the 2003-04 team will be inducted into the Saint Francis Athletics Hall of Fame in the summer.
FUN FACT...Â
• The Red Flash played 10 times on Valentine's Day between 1970 and 1987, but has only played on this date seven times since 1998. Saint Francis defeated Juniata 29-28 in 1973. The 29 points are the third-fewest point total in a win in program history (24, vs. Juniata, February 8, 1972; 23 points, Duquesne, February 23, 1973).Â
