ROSEVILLE, Calif. – Senior Nika Bagatelos hit a career-high nine three-pointers and tallied a career-high 29 points to lead St. Francis to a 71-57 victory over host Roseville Saturday afternoon in the consolation final.
Bagatelos, who hit eight threes and scored 26 in a game against Monterey Trail as a junior, got started early with two three-pointers in the first quarter as the Troubadours took a 16-10 lead.
"It felt good today and I was ready to go at the beginning of the game," said Bagatelos. "They were leaving me wide open so I was going to shoot it."
Bagatelos opened up the lead in the second quarter with five triples to go into the half with seven for the game, leading the team to a 44-34 advantage.
"It was just going today," said Bagatelos. "We have the momentum going now and we want to keep it going into our game on Wednesday."
Bagatelos added two more three-pointers in the second half, finishing with nine for the game, the second-best single-game total in school history to Janae Fairbrook's record of 10. She finished 9-for-17 from beyond the arc in the game.
"Considering she took the ACT this morning, she came in focused," said Head Coach Heather Volek Brownholtz. "She was a deadly shooter today. I was really proud of her."
Senior Lauren Pank and junior Mia Fleming-Mullins added double-doubles in the winning effort. Pank scored 11 points and dished out a career-high 14 assists.
"It is helpful whenever everyone makes shots," said Pank. "It was a good team effort. We are finding ways to score not just passing and shooting. Our slashers are cutting to the basket to help us all get open."
Fleming-Mullins 16 points and 14 rebounds to earn selection to the Roseville Elite Classic all-tournament honors. Junior Jasmine Lee added seven points and senior Megan Austn contributed six.
"Having the inside game allows us to have the outside game," said Brownholtz. "It was beautiful. I am proud of the girls. There was a lot of adversity in this game and things were not going our way. It was a gut check today."
St. Francis (4-2) extended the lead in the third quarter, holding the Tigers to just seven points as Fleming-Mullins scored six of her 16 points. She added six more points in the fourth.
"We played some really good teams this weekend and they were highly competitive," said Bagatelos. "We were in every game. We need to work on starting the games faster and not letting the lead go. We are good at battling back. But keeping the lead at the end is good."
The Troubies lost a close game to MaxPreps top-25 team St. Ignatius on Thursday before beating Inderkum on Friday night.
"I feel like we are playing as a team," said Pank, who had three triples as part of her 11 points. "It is all clicking with our offense."
St. Francis plays their home opener on Wednesday against Monterey Trail with all three levels scheduled to play starting at 4 p.m.
St. Francis 71, Roseville 57
Roseville Elite Classic
St. Francis 16 28 13 14 - 71
Roseville 10 24 7 16 – 57
SF – Bagatelos 29, Fleming-Mullins 16, Pank 11, Lee 7, Austin 6, Lopez 2. R – Hillard 16, A. Sandle 15, Law 11, M. Sandle 10, Roldes 4, Sanders 1.
