SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Senior wing Jadyn Weaver knocked down four three-pointers en route to a team-high 14 points, leading four Troubadours in double-figure scoring, as St. Francis held on to beat Grant Union, 52-43, in the varsity end of a girls' prep basketball doubleheader Tuesday night.

The Troubies, ranked seventh in the Sacramento area in 49ers Sac-Hi Sports' Tracy Toyota Top 10 Poll, improve to 6-1 for the season.

Juniors Chidera Okoye and Brianna McGahan added 11 and 10 points, respectively, while sophomore point guard Sydney Teoh added 10 points with a team-high seven assists. Okoye also led SF in with eight rebounds, with Weaver and Emily Dusel chipping in another five apiece.

Okoye propelled the Troubies to a 12-6 start, thanks to seven points in the first period. She scored in the paint on an assist from Dusel, drew contact, then hit the and-one throw at 5:29 in the opener, then her drive through the lane and her conversion of a Weaver assist added to the early onslaught. Weaver also hit her first three-pointer in that run. Grant senior Diamond Golden buried a three of her own from the top of the key to cut the margin to 12-9 entering the second, then Monet Stallworth's drive to start the second brought the Pacers to within a 12-11 hole.

St. Francis answered Stallworth's score with a 7-0 run: Teoh pulled up for an 18-footer on the next trip down, Dusel hit a midrange shot from the right elbow thanks to a kick-out pass from Aubrey O'Donnell, then Dusel assisted Weaver on her second trey with 6:15 to go, sending SF back up by a 19-11 edge. Still, credit Grant for rallying, with Kat Noa's fast break finishing a comeback to just 19-16 at the 2:15 mark. Noa also assisted T-Ford Small for another tally late in the frame, but buckets from McGahan and Okoye kept the Troubies in front at the break, 23-18.

Weaver poured in back-to-back threes, both on dishes from Teoh, as part of 9-0 run in the third quarter that pushed St. Francis up by 32-20. Dusel had a transition field goal to end that run, while her steal allowed Weaver to draw a shooting foul at 1:39. Weaver hit both ends, keeping the lead at 12, or 36-24.

Nonetheless, Grant's Golden and Keyara Lopa combined on consecutive field goals down the stretch of the third, with Golden finding Lopa down low each time. This halved the Troubie lead to a 36-30 advantage going into the finale. Golden later scored in transition at 6:49 in the fourth to make it 38-34, the narrowest margin of the half. Teoh came up with two key offensive plays, finding an open McGahan for a corner three, then managing to get a shot to fall despite stumbling over a defender in the paint. This restored the SF edge back to nine at 43-34.

Dusel later came up with a key steal across the center logo, thwarting a would-be fast break for Grant. This led to a second McGahan three-pointer, extending the lead to 46-36. The Pacers continued to hang in, cutting the Troubie lead to as little as 48-43 on Golden's step-back jumper at 1:40. Meanwhile, Teoh went to the free-throw line five times. She uncharacteristically struggled on the first trips, even missing the front end of a one-and-one. But Weaver and Dusel continued to make key steals on defense, and Teoh found her stroke from the line, hitting 4-for-4 in the final minute to seal the victory.

In all, Dusel had a team-leading six steals for the night. She was also the only Troubie to play all 32 minutes of the contest.

In contrast to the late-game action of the varsity tilt, the St. Francis JV Gold squad rolled past the Pacers by a 60-8 final. Caitlyn Lee hit three three-pointers for a team-leading 13 points, all in the first half; while Mackenzie Tan added 12 points while leading a Troubie defense that kept Grant off the scoreboard from the 5:08 mark in the first quarter to 4:20 in the fourth. 

The usually guard-dominated JV Gold also enjoyed strong production from its posts: Alexis Heise and Perpetua Nwaukoni each added eight points, with the former assisting the latter on a bucket to end the third period. Meanwhile Sophia Hendrix assisted Lee and yet another post, freshman Reese Walker, on back-to-back Troubie scoring plays in the second quarter. 

Perhaps appropriately, Grant's long scoring drought was bookended by scores from the same player. JaNiya Haley made a putback for her team's second field goal in the first stanza, then her fast break midway through the fourth ended the long scoreless stretch.

Tuesday's doubleheader was the last home basketball action of the 2022 calendar year, as all St. Francis students begin final examinations on Wednesday. Varsity hoop returns to action against Kennedy at Del Oro's sixth-annual Mike "Tako" Takayama Memorial Tournament on Thursday, while JV Gold takes on Folsom at Christian Brothers' La Salle Classic later that afternoon.