Saint Francis Probable Starters


Pos.
No.
Name
Ht.
Yr.
PPG
RPG
FG%
Note


G
0
Aleah James
5-7
Gr.
13.6
4.2
40.0
Career-high 5 steals on Tuesday


G
1
Makyiah Ward
5-4
Fr.
6.0
4.2
44.8
5 rebounds in 4 of 5 games


C           
4
Sonia Sato
6-0
Gr.
12.6
4.6
39.7
Career-high 22 points against CMU


G
11
Bati Assefa
5-9
Sr.
6.0
2.8
60.0
Career-high 15 points vs Lafayette


F
23    
Shelby Ricks
5-9
Gr.
11.0
7.0
37.0
Leads team in rebounding


Top Players Off the Bench


Pos.
No.
Name
Ht.
Yr.
PPG
RPG
FG%
Note


G 
3
Desire Short
5-9
Jr.
—
—
—
Did not play in first five games


G
5
Kash Holmes
5-9
Jr.
—
—
—
Did not play in first five tilts


F
10
Zaiha Minnis
5-11    
Sr.
3.8
1.2
31.8
Season-high eight points on Sunday


G 
12
Sajol Thornhill
5-7
So.
1.4
1.2
14.3
Posted three rebounds and three assists vs Duquesne


G
21    
Gemma Walker
5-10
So.
—
—
—
Appeared in 13 games last season


G
33    
Giselle Eke
6-3
So.
3.7
3.3
30.8
Matched career-high six points vs Lafayette


SELECT GAME NOTES VS. ARMY WEST POINT (FULL GAME NOTES PDF)

FRANKIES TIDBITS IN A FLASH

• Saturday’s game between Saint Francis and Army West Point marks the first meeting between the two teams in team history

• Saint Francis is 15-34 all-time against the Patriot League and  has played all nine teams associated with the league except for Army West Point and Boston University. The Red Flash can cross Army West Point off that list on Saturday. It is also the second meeting against a Patriot League team in seven days, following Sunday’s game against Lafayette.

• The Loretto program has played Bucknell 21 times (7-14), Loyola 12 times (2-10), Lehigh (1-3), and Navy (3-1) four times, American (2-1) three times, Lafayette (0-3), and Colgate (0-2) twice each. The Red Flash played Loyola last year.

• Saint Francis is looking to end a six-game losing streak against the Patriot League, with its last win coming at Bucknell with a 64-54 win on November 14, 2012. The Loretto program is also looking for its first home win against the circuit since a 64-56 win against Navy on December 1, 2006.

• While the two teams have never met on the floor, there was once a Saint Francis connection to Army West Point. Dave Magarity, a 1972 graduate of Saint Francis, led the Black Knights women’s basketball team from 2006 to 21 after serving as an assistant for one season. Magarity was 266-83 with Army and led the Black Knights to the Patriot League Tournament title in 2014 and 2016, and the regular season crown in 2013 and 2016. Prior to Army, Magarity was the head coach at Marist with the men’s basketball program from 1986-2004, posting a 253-259 record with the Red Foxes with an NEC Tournament title in 1987 and two NEC regular season titles (1987, 1988) with the aid of Rik “The Dunking Dutchmen” Smits, who would play with the Indiana Pacers from 1988-2000. Magarity was also the head coach of the Saint Francis men’s team from 1978 to 83.

• Army is wrapping up a four-game homestand for Saint Francis, which is hosting its first non-conference four-game homestand since 1984-85. The Colonials also started the four-game stretch that season just like in 2025-26. While this is just the second time the Loretto program has hosted four in a row in non-conference play, Saint Francis has had 11 four-game homestands in NEC action, although twice those spans included two NEC games and two non-conference tilts.

• Army is also the first team on the schedule not from the Keystone State after the Red Flash opened the season at Duquesne (November 3) and La Salle before starting the homestand with Robert Morris (November 13), Lafayette (November 16), and Carnegie Mellon (November 18).

• The Red Flash will stay in the New York State of Mind when it travels to Iona in New Rochelle, New York, for the Turkey Tipoff after Thanksgiving.


AN SFU WIN WOULD

• Be the team’s first win of the season

• Give head coach Chynna Bozeman her first career victory

• Have Bozeman become the sixth head coach to win her first game in Loretto

• Be the team’s first win against the Patriot League since 2012

• Be the team’s first victory against Army in the first meeting between the two teams

• End an eight-game non-conference home losing streak

 

ABOUT THE BLACK KNIGHTS

• Army comes into the contest 4-1 after defeating New Hampshire 63-44 on Thursday.

• Kya Smith fueled the Black Knights with 18 points and 14 rebounds against the Wildcats. Taylor Wilson added 15 points and Camryn Tade had 14 points in the win.

• Smith leads the team with 16.4 points and 10.0 rebounds per game,while Wilson is second on the team with 12.0 points per gam,e and Tade is third with 10.6 points per game.

• Camryn Tade, who is averaging 9.2 points per game, was the 2025 Patriot League Rookie of the Year.

• Head coach Katie Kuester is in her first season as head coach, but was an assistant coach last year at Saint Joseph’s when Saint Francis played in Philadelphia. She is the daughter of longtime NBA coach John Kuester, who spent 20 years in the league with teams including the Detroit Pistons, Philadelphia 76ers, and Los Angeles Lakers.


LAST TIME OUT

• Saint Francis lost 55-53 to Carnegie Mellon on Tuesday.

• Sonia Sato registered a career-high 22 points along with eight rebounds, while Aleah James added 12 points and a career-best five steals. 

• The trend might not be as big as six-seven, but the Red Flash was one of three Division I teams to lose to a Division III team in a three-day span: Scranton defeated Pitt, 69-63 (November 16), and Johns Hopkins downed Morgan State, 75-59 (November 18).


TRENDING UP

• Graduate student Sonia Sato became the second Red Flash player to reach 20 points for the first time in her career this season when she posted 22 points against Carnegie Mellon on November 18. Sato has registered double figures in four of the five games this season, her first four 10+ point games of her career after posting a career-high of nine points twice in three seasons at Presbyterian. She added a season-high eight rebounds, which matched the career high she had with the Blue Hose against Winthrop on January 29, 2025. Sato is averaging 12.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per game in three games at DeGol Arena.

• Graduate student Aleah James was the first player to reach 20 points this season and her career with her 20 points against Robert Morris in her DeGol Arena debut on November 13. Just like Sato, James has registered double figures in points in four of the five games this season. The graduate student is averaging 12.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.7 steals per game. During this homestand, James has established new personal bests in points, rebounds (9 vs. Lafayette, November 16) and steals (5) against Carnegie Mellon.

• Senior Bati Assefa is averaging 10.5 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game in her last two tilts, both games since she joined the starting lineup. Assefa posted a career-high 15 points and five assists against Lafayette in her first Red Flash start and then had six points and a season-high five rebounds against Carnegie Mellon. 

• Graduate student Shelby Ricks powers the team with 7.0 rebounds per game and has recorded at least five boards in all five games this season. Ricks registered three-straight games with at least 14 points before she finished the game against Carnegie Mellon with five points and six rebounds.  In the game against Lafayette, the graduate student recorded her first Red Flash double-double of the season and the second of her career, with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Ricks is averaging 11.3 points and 7.3 rebounds per game on the homestand.

• Freshman Makyiah Ward has registered five rebounds in four of the five games this season, has at least three assists four times, three steals three times and 11 points twice in her first collegiate action.

NEW YORK STATE OF MIND

• Saint Francis is 6-18 against the state of New York and 5-7 in Loretto against the Empire State in non-conference play. 

• Canisius has the distinction of being the last team from New York to win at DeGol Arena with a 48-46 decision last year in front of 1,400 children for Education Day on November 15, 2024, while the Golden Griffins are also the last team from the Empire State the Red Flash has defeated in the ‘Lo with a 95-74 win on November 22, 2016 on another Educational Day game.

• Saint Francis will travel to Iona on November 28-29 for the Turkey Tipoff.  It will be the first trip to the state of New York since playing at Canisius on November 11, 2023.

• The Red Flash is 121-59 against teams from New York in NEC play. 



ON THIS DATE

• Saint Francis is 1-8 on this date and 1-3 at home. The one win at DeGol Arena was an 81-58 decision against Penn in 1997 in the home opener

• The Red Flash defeated Akron 80-79 in overtime on this date in 2011. Alli Williams made two free throws with four seconds left in the extra session to propel Saint Francis to the victory. Williams finished the game with 25 points, eight rebounds, and five steals, while Kelley Doogan (14 points), Nickia Gibbs (13 points) and Rhoda Watts (11 points) also found double figures. 

FUN FACTS

• This will be the fourth time in the last six years the team will play on this date after only playing on this date seven times from 1985-2012.