SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Sophomore point guard Sydney Teoh scored 13 points while junior post Chidera Okoye added 12 points and nine rebounds, leading St. Francis to a 51-44 win over Rodriguez in the varsity half of a home basketball doubleheader Friday night.

The Troubadours improve to 4-0 for the season, defeating a Mustang program that advanced a round in last year's Sac-Joaquin Section Division II tournament.

SF varsity's victory followed a 38-27 win by its Junior Varsity Red squad against Nevada Union, with Nevaeh Gavino literally scoring the majority of the Troubie points with 20 total. The JV Gold was also scheduled to face Rodriguez, but that game was canceled earlier in the week as illness left the Mustang jayvees with insufficient players.

Okoye also posted five steals to match fellow All-Delta League honoree Brianna McGahan for the team lead. McGahan also added six points and six rebounds, while senior Jadyn Weaver drained a pair of three-pointers en route to her eight points. 

However, one of the clutch performances came from guard Emma Karamanoukian, who came off the bench late in the third to provide a key offensive spark. Facing a tie score of 31-31 with 91 seconds left on the third-quarter clock, she won an offensive board, then immediately found Weaver at the top of the key for a three-pointer. This highlighted an SF comeback from what had been a 31-27 deficit just three minutes earlier. 

Then a minute into the fourth, Karamanoukian won a defensive rebound, scampered nearly the full length of the court to draw a shooting foul on the fast break. She hit the front end of her trip to the line, extending the Troubie lead to 38-32. After Roniya Vaughn scored for Rodriguez on the other end, Karamanoukian followed with a corner three at the 6:15 mark to extend the lead to seven at 41-34. Then Weaver hit her second trey from the same corner as the shot clock expired, providing the Troubies with a 44-34 edge and their first double-digit lead of the game. Karamanoukian also took part in a press that held the Mustangs to just one field goal across a seven-minute span in the second half.

St. Francis had taken an early 11-6 lead to the varsity game, only to see that wither to just an 18-17 margin through the first. Okoye's drive through the paint and her blocked shot on the defensive end vaulted the Troubies to another early surge in the second, resulting in a 23-17 lead. However, Rodriguez' defense down low kept its host in check while Samantha Morris scored four straight points to equalize at 23-23. Okoye restored the SF lead to 25-23 when she powered her way to the hoop with 3:13 to go. 

Still, the Mustangs took the lead on the strength of 33-second show by Roniya Vaughn before the break. The 5-foot-11 senior post scored a bucket off a loose ball to tie the game at 25-25 with 40 ticks on the game clock. After Maraya Vaughn stole possession on the next Troubie trip, Roniya drew a shooting foul and hit one of two from the line to make it 26-25 for Rodriguez. Then on defense, she blocked Weaver on a layup and grabbed the defensive rebound, protecting the one-point edge at halftime.

Roniya Vaughn's conversion of a great pass from Mia Marquez gave the Mustangs a 31-27 lead at 4:26 in the third, but that was the last Rodriguez field goal of the frame. Okoye scored on back-to-back possessions to knot the score at 31-31. The Mustangs refused to allow the SF forward to get another look, forcing head coach Brittany Woodard to call a timeout with 1:52 left in the quarter. Karamanoukian checked in during that break, setting the stage for her assist to Weaver on the go-ahead three, a Teoh trip to the charity stripe and a drive by freshman Lexi London, all of which propelled the Troubies to a 37-32 lead heading into the fourth.

The treys from Karamanoukian and Weaver in the fourth made it 44-34, then Chidera assisted McGahan on a transition bucket to stretch the lead to 46-36 with 5:03 left. Marquez later pulled Rodriguez to within a five-point, 46-41 deficit, but Teoh's bread-and-butter play – a runner in the lane – provided the dagger with 47 seconds to go. St. Francis maintained a three-possession lead for the final stretch, with its trap forcing some errant Rodriguez passes.

The JV Red, less than 24 hours removed from its overtime heroics against Oak Ridge on Thursday, never trailed in its victory over the Miners in Friday's opener. Gavino scored two field goals in the opening minute, added seven more points in the second, two successful runners in the third, then a three-pointer and a midrange, third-chance bucket early in the fourth.

Lauren Herbelin, who assisted both of Gavino's treys, hit two long-range bombs of her own on assists from Gianna Seghesio. Herbelin finished with seven points total. Posts Annie Swanson (10) and Abbey Pavelchik (eight) combined for 18 rebounds, while each added field goals in an 8-0 run that stretched a 26-22 lead into a 34-22 margin with 3:52 left in the game.

Nevada Union never equalized throughout the contest, but came the closest midway through the second quarter. Guard Kendall Dickey scored on a fast break at 3:42, then assisted Katie Enos on another transition opportunity 27 seconds later to narrow the deficit to just 14-13. Dickey then drew a foul and went to the line for a one-and-one chance. However, she missed the front end. Gavino hit her first three-pointer with 1:17 left in the half to expand the Troubie lead to 17-13, then after Rose Haag came up with an offensive rebound, Gavino drew a foul with no time left before the break. She hit both from the line, reaching the double-digit plateau and extended the SF halftime lead to 19-13.

The JV Red returns to action in a 4 p.m. home game against El Dorado on Monday. Meanwhile, St. Francis' JV Gold and varsity head to Laguna Creek that night for a 5:30/7 p.m. road doubleheader.