Latest news with #SaintFrancis
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
SFU's McConnell excited for family's success
LORETTO, PA (WTAJ) — Saint Francis basketball coach Luke McConnell laughs thinking about the message he sent his cousin T.J. after the Indiana Pacers won the Eastern Conference Finals. 'I literally think my text was, 'Dude, you're in the NBA Finals' and he's like, 'I know, right?' Like crazy.,' he recalls. Luke is in his first season as head coach at his alma mater, Saint Francis University. His cousin T.J. has played in the NBA for a decade and Thursday made his NBA Finals debut. It's a moment the two used to practice as kids. 'We would cut our dad's dress socks and wear the sleeve like Allen Iverson. Just kids who loved watching basketball loved the NBA,' he said. 'Playing ten, nine, eight where, you know, there's 10 seconds left in game seven… So to go from that to see what he's been able to accomplish is, is really fun.' Luke grew up in Blair County, T.J. in Pittsburgh. The sons of basketball coaches they spent a lot of their summers going back and forth from camp to camp, learning basketball together. 'Our dads each had basketball camps, so we would each go back and forth to our dad's basketball camps, you know, going to Pittsburgh, coming back to Hollidaysburg, playing in the driveway to see where he's come from. That it's surreal in a way,' said Luke. Since the driveway, T.J. has balled at Arizona, then with the Sixers and in 2019 he joined the Pacers where he's been a steady presence off the bench and leader in the locker room. 'I want a lot of us to know how hard it is to get here. But the job's not done. You know, we have four more wins, and we've got to focus on that,' said T.J. during the NBA Finals media day. '(It) never ceases to amaze us what he's able to accomplish,' said Luke. 'So for him to reach the finals, literally the biggest stage in basketball is, it's unbelievable to think about, but not surprising at the same time with what he's been able to do.' The McConnells are basketball royalty in Pittsburgh. Luke coaches Saint Francis, the same school his dad coached at. T.J. is with the Pacers, his dad Tim is a WPIAL coaching legend, and his sister Megan just made her WNBA debut. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Texas A&M run rules Red Flash in tournament opener
COLLEGE STATION, TX (WTAJ) — Top seeded Texas A&M proved their ranking Friday in the Aggies' regional opener against Saint Francis, no-hitting the Red Flash in a run-rule victory. It was a dreadful opener for Saint Francis, who rode plenty of momentum into the NCAA Tournament. It's the team's seventh trip to the regionals in eight seasons, but for this young team, the stage and lights shone too brightly. 'That is certainly not something that satisfies them how we played today,' said head coach Beth Krysiak. 'So the talk in the huddle was our season's not done. We had to fight to be in-season as long as humanly possible. And so all we got to do now is show the fight that we've had all season, throughout the chaos we've been put through. And so it's a little more chaos and a little more fight.' Saint Francis struggled for a good chunk of the 2025 campaign, only to catch fire down the stretch, winning 11 of its last 12 games, including the NEC championship, but no team on its schedule compares to the Aggies who shared the SEC title with Oklahoma en route to a 45-9 season. With the win, Texas A&M advances to play Liberty in a regional semifinal Saturday, while Saint Francis will face elimination against Marist. The game is Saturday at 4:30 p.m. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
USA Today
17-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Texas A&M softball run-rule Saint Francis 18-0 in Regional blowout on Friday afternoon
Texas A&M softball run-rule Saint Francis 18-0 in Regional blowout on Friday afternoon Texas A&M flexed its offensive and defensive power in Game 2 of the Bryan-College Station Regional, securing a commanding 18-0 victory over the Saint Francis Red Flash on Friday evening. The Aggies' explosive offense showed no signs of slowing down, racking up 18 runs on eight hits in just five innings. A&M capitalized on Saint Francis' struggles, as the Red Flash set a record with 14 walks, keeping the bases loaded all game long. SEC All-Tournament standouts Koko Wooley and Amari Harper led the charge, going a flawless 6-for-6 with nine RBIs, with Harper launching the only home run of the day. On the mound, Sydney Lessentine and Sidne Peters delivered a dominant no-hitter, allowing only one walk while striking out eight batters. This performance was crucial for freshman Lessentine, who gained valuable postseason experience, while Peters' strong return from injury provided a much-needed boost for Texas A&M's pitching rotation. Texas A&M will face Liberty in Game 3 of the Bryan-College Station regional on Saturday at 1:00 pm. CT. The game will be available to watch on ESPN+. Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes and opinions. Follow Jarrett Johnson on X: @whosnextsports1.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Late surge has Red Flash back in the NCAA Tournament
LORETTO (WTAJ) — Stop me if you've heard this story before: the Red Flash catch fire at the end of the season, winning 11 of their last 12, including an NEC Championship to secure their spot in the NCAA Tournament. That's the story of Saint Francis softball. It's a similar script that Saint Francis basketball used to end their 30-plus year tournament drought, only the Red Flash are no strangers to the NCAA Softball Tournament. Friday's matchup against Texas A&M will make it the seventh time in eight years that SFU is in it. The Red Flash got here with a 26-24 record, a sharp drop-off from the team's 41 wins last spring. Still, an NEC Championship run sends them to the College Station region with the overall top seed, Texas A&M. 'We started a lot of freshmen, a lot of sophomores, who sat on the bench last year. And so they just had to get the nerves out and they had to figure out what a Saint Francis softball look like for this group,' said second year head coach Beth Krysiak. Since 2017, Saint Francis has been a staple at the NCAA Tournament. Last year, a 1-0 win over Sienna in the Evanston Regional marked the team's second all-time postseason victory. It gave the team a lesson they carried into Friday's matchup. 'It's a big stage, but everyone messes up and I feel like everything that happened just kind of brought us closer together,' said junior outfielder Savannah Nash. 'I think that just not thinking of or thinking about what we're doing, and just putting (the game) that into perspective.' 'Being at the one seed is continuing to thrive in chaos for us. And we've done nothing but that this year,' said Krysiak. 'So continuing to thrive in that chaos, I believe that we can come out on the other side. We can definitely go take a game or two.' Saint Francis plays Texas A&M at 3:30 Friday on the SEC Network, proceeding a game between Marist and Liberty. The NCAA softball regionals are a two-loss elimination format. It runs Friday through Sunday. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Texas A&M softball earns top overall seed in NCAA Tournament
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (FOX 44) — Texas A&M softball was named the number one overall seed in the NCAA Tournament for the first time ever. The Aggies will host Saint Francis in the first round of the tournament. Marist and Liberty matchup on the other side of the regional. Trisha Ford's squad finished with a 45-9 record in the toughest conference in the country. If the Aggies move on to win the Regional they will be right back at Davis Diamond the following weekend for the Super Regional. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
