EL DORADO HILLS, Calif. – Sophomore point guard Sydney Teoh scored a team-leading 14 points, juniors Brianna McGahan and Chidera Okoye added another 10 each, while seniors Jadyn Weaver and Emily Dusel made key plays down the stretch to lift St. Francis to a 53-47 win over Oak Ridge in the semifinal round of the Trojan Toss-up varsity tournament Thursday night.
The Troubadours improve to 10-2 for the season and advance to their second tournament championship game in as many weeks, following Del Oro's Takayama Memorial event just five days earlier.
In the last two minutes of play, Weaver helped coax an Oak Ridge turnover on a sideline inbounds play, grabbed the rebound on a defensive stop, assisted McGahan on a baseline drive with 0:56 to go, then came up with a steal at midcourt with just 13 ticks left. Dusel, whose volleyball-style swat disrupted the Trojan's inbound attempt, knocked down a jump shot from the right elbow with 30 seconds left to make it a two-possession game at 51-47.
The senior heroics culminated a contest that began with the Trojans out to an early lead. Ava Edwards scored right off the opening tip, then buried a three-pointer at the top of the key to give her a team a 5-0 start before St. Francis had even ventured across the timeline. OR's Jessica Crannell later hit a trey from the top of the arc to make it 15-6 at the 2:36 mark of the first quarter.
However, the Troubies enjoyed a 15-3 overall run in the second to assume the lead. Aubrey O'Donnell assisted Okoye for a second-chance score with 5:19 left, then Okoye drove the lane and drew the and-one free throw at 4:28. She hit the throw for the three-point play, cutting the OR lead to just 20-19. On the next trip down, Dusel came up with a steal and pushed the length of the court for the 21-20 go-ahead at 4:16.
The Trojans briefly regained the lead when Liv Yergensen hit a corner three with 3:32 left before halftime, but that began a run of four straight SF scores: McGahan converted a Teoh assist on the next possession, then assisted Okoye on a fast break 16 ticks later. Teoh's steal and coast-to-coast scamper made it 27-23 with 2:45 left, then McGahan's rebound and putback stretched the lead to 29-23 at the 1:47 mark. SF maintained a six-point lead at the break, 31-25.
The momentum shifted in Oak Ridge's favor in the third, with the Troubies managing only two scores in the frame: Teoh's fast break at 6:34 and her running jumper at 4:08. Meanwhile, Trojan forward Brooke Williams scored twice in the opening minute, then Kendra Alameda and Cottrell each made plays late to lift OR to a 37-35 edge heading into the fourth.
St. Francis promptly erased the deficit, with Teoh draining another runner then assisting Weaver on a three-pointer from the left side less than a minute later for a 40-37 Troubie lead. Oak Ridge equalized yet again on Yergensen's drive to the hole and a Lauren Marsh free throw. But SF freshman Lexi London answered with a three-pointer at the 5:25 mark, putting the Troubies back on top, 43-40.
Incredibly, St. Francis shot just 2-for-17 from beyond the arc for the game, but each of the two makes created a three-point lead in the early part of the fourth. Oak Ridge pulled to within a single point twice in the fourth but never tied or regained the lead. Teoh's drive up the left side of the lane made it 47-44 with 3:09 left, then McGahan broke up what almost certainly would have been an outlet to a fast break at 2:18. This set the stage for Weaver's feats in those final minutes.
Oak Ridge has largely dominated the recent history between the two teams, with the Trojans winning seven of the last eight meetings dating back to 2012. In fact, the lone Troubadour win in that span was the 88-61 victory in the 2016 Sac-Joaquin Section Division I tournament, a game in which future Santa Clara standout Tia Hay shot 8 of 12 for 23 points and future Pepperdine commit Lauren Craig contributed another 18.
The St. Francis varsity is one of three teams competing in Oak Ridge's annual winter tourney. Earlier in the day, JV Red rode two distinct hot streaks to a 56-41 win over Nevada Union in the Frosh Jamboree portion of the tournament. Then despite a career-high 23 points from Mackenzie Tan, JV Gold lost to the host Trojans by a 73-54 final in the JV bracket semifinal round.
The all-frosh JV Red had the first action of the day, with Nevaeh Gavino scoring 14 points with Gianna Seghesio and Lauren Herbelin adding 13 and 10, respectively. The Troubies enjoyed an 11-0 run in the first quarter to erase what had been an initial 8-2 deficit, then later scored 16 unanswered to extend their 28-19 halftime edge to commanding 44-21 lead. Gavino scored the first eight SF points of the second quarter to help establish the halftime margin. Seghesio had three buckets in the third-period outburst.
In the JV Gold contest, Tan drained five three-pointers as part of her offensive effort, including two treys in a third quarter that saw the Troubies pull to within a 53-50 deficit of their hosts. However, SF went without a basket for the first seven minutes of the fourth, with only Reese Walker's free throw at the 5:48 preventing a scoreless stretch. Karly Okamoto ended the field-goal drought when she hit a runner from the right elbow with 59 ticks left, bringing the deficit to 71-53.
Freshman Colleen Medina added another 13 points for JV Gold in the setback.
The Oak Ridge tournament concludes on Friday. JV Red faces Folsom at 11:30 a.m., with JV Gold taking on Brentwood's Heritage High at noon. The varsity plays either Heritage of Antelope, pending the outcome of Thursday's late game. Check the schedule pages at GoTroubies.com for updates on the bracket.
UPDATE 10:03 P.M. - St. Francis will face undefeated Antelope (8-0) in Friday's title game... The Titans are ranked No. 4 in California and tops among D-II girls' programs, with wins over McClatchy, Vanden, Whitney and Manteca already on their ledger.
