WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
>> Trying to become the second eighth seed to defeat the No. 1 seed in the NEC Tournament in the 40 years of the league, Saint Francis falls in the NEC Women's Basketball Quarterfinals to FDU on Monday.
>> Aleah James paced the Red Flash with 17 points. Shelby Ricks (12 points), Sonia Sato (11 points), and Makyiah Ward (11 points) also reached double figures.
>> The Red Flash had four players in double figures for the third time this season. 

TURNING POINT OF THE GAME
The Knights scored the first 11 points of the game before Ricks scored the first basket for Saint Francis. After Bati Assefa scored in the lane with 4:21 left in the first quarter, FDU scored the next nine points, and the Red Flash could get no closer the rest of the way in an 81-56 win for the Knights.

FLASH QUOTES
"We wanted to keep fighting, and that was a testament to those young ladies. They are a resilient group. They played hard, and that is why it hurt so much, because I wanted to give them the opportunity to keep going." - acting head coach Raphael McNeill on the game

"It's a lot of tradition in the NEC, and we have had the luxury to be a part of it." - McNeill on being a part of the NEC

FLASH MOMENTS 
Saint Francis went on an 8-0 run in the second quarter, with Ricks scoring half of the points in the run. The Red Flash then rolled off five in a row thanks to two points by James, Ward, and a point by Gemma Walker. The Loretto program outscored the Knights 17-14 in the second frame.

Sato and Ward combined for 10 points in a 10-6 spurt in the third quarter, with Sato posting six points and Ward adding four points in the spurt. 

James went on a 6-0 run to end the third quarter and start the fourth quarter. 

FLASH NUGGETS
Saint Francis drops its eighth straight NEC Tournament game dating back to the 2019 NEC Championship Game. The Red Flash falls to 49-18 in 40 seasons in the league and 19-9 in the NEC Quarterfinals.

The Loretto program won 12 NEC Tournament titles and 400 regular-season conference wins, the only team in NEC history to reach both totals. This season marked the 30th Anniversary of the start of a dominant stretch bySaint Francis, when it won nine championships in 10 years and strung together 29 consecutive NEC postseason wins from 1995-96 to 2008-09.  

James finished her Red Flash career the same way she started it, with her third-straight game in double figures. In fact, she averaged 17.0 points per game in both stretches. The graduate student must like to begin and end the season a certain way, after she also had a 20-point game in her first and last games at DeGol Arena. She finished with 14 double-figure point games in 2025-26. 

Ricks registered back-to-back games in double figures for the fifth time this seasons and she ended the season with four 10+ point games in her last five contests. Ricks, who added a team-high seven rebounds, finished with 15 10+ point games this season. The graduate student finished 6-for-8 from the floor on the night. 

Sato reached double figures for the 14th time this season, and the first time since she also had 11 points against CCSU on February 28. 

Ward finished her freshman year the same way she began it, with a double-figure scoring game. The freshman posted 11 points in her first two collegiate games, including 11 points at Duquesne on November 3. All four of her 10+ point games came away from Loretto, including her career-high 15 points at Le Moyne on January 2. Ward added three assists and three rebounds. 

It was the third time Saint Francis and FDU played in the NEC Tournament, but the first time the game was contested in Hackensack. The home team won all three meetings. 

It marked the fifth time in team history that the Red Flash opened the NEC Tournament against the team it had concluded the regular season against, joining 2009 (Robert Morris), CCSU (2013), 2022 (Robert Morris), and Sacred Heart (2024). Read Full Article