ELK GROVE, Calif. – Junior Brianna McGahan and freshman Reese Walker each posted double-doubles to lead St. Francis varsity and junior varsity Gold, respectively, as the Troubadours swept host Sheldon in a Delta League girls' basketball doubleheader Friday night. The elder Troubadours pulled away late to win by a 58-28 final, while the jayvees scored a 67-48 victory in the opener.
St. Francis varsity, ranked seventh in the area by 49ers Cal-Hi Sports, improves to 12-3 for the year. JV Gold moves to 10-3 overall. Both teams are now 2-0 in league play.
McGahan overcame a relatively slow start offensively to finish with a team-leading 13 points and 11 rebounds, while senior Jadyn Weaver drained three three-pointers en route to another 11 points. Sophomore point guard Sydney Teoh added nine points and led with five of her team's 23 steals.
Teoh scored five of her nine tallies in a first-quarter run that lifted SF to a 13-4 lead. Weaver assisted Teoh on a three-pointer, while one of her three steals initiated a transition bucket by Emily Dusel as part of that run. Sheldon point Jaylah Patterson buried a trey to end that surge, but the Troubies held a comfortable 18-9 lead after the first eight minutes.
The Huskies struck first in the second quarter when Aaliyah Evans was fouled on a fourth-chance attempt on the opening possession. She hit both free throws to cut the deficit to seven, only to have the Troubies answer with a 13-0 run across the next 6:26. Weaver hit back-to-back threes in that stretch. McGahan connected on both ends of a two-shot trip to the line, hit a pull-up jumper at the left elbow, and assisted Aubrey O'Donnell in the lane. On the defensive end, she gloved an attempt by Patterson – one of five Troubie blocked shots for the game. Teoh also contributed a highlight in the second when she drew a charge as the shot clock wound down following the McGahan block.
St. Francis held a 33-13 lead at halftime, and never let its host closer than a 13-point difference in the second half. Patterson assisted Charlize Miles to bring the score to 35-22 with 4:28 left in the third, only to have the Troubies answer with three scores in quick succession: Weaver's third three-pointer at 4:13, McGahan's putback at 3:47 and Teoh's drive through the lane at 3:22. Patterson interrupted the SF run with a steal and transition make with 2:17 left in the third, bringing the score to 42-24. But the Troubies restored their lead to 20 with a minute to go when Chidera Okoye's steal against the Huskies led to a Dusel-Teoh fast break on the other end. SF held a 44-24 advantage going to the fourth.
The fourth quarter was highlighted by the Troubie reserves. Freshman Lexi London assisted McGahan on a three-pointer, then set up Sophie Harris on two different 14-foot jumpers – the second coming when she beat a corner trap to find Harris open. SF head coach Brittany Woodard attempted to call a timeout to rescue London from the trap, but the officials didn't hear the request. Instead, Harris sank her shot just in front of the free-throw line to extend the Troubie lead to 52-25.
O'Donnell came up with a steal against a Sheldon defensive rebound, then drew a foul with 0:42 left. She hit the front end of her trip to the line for her team's 53rd point. Finally, guard Emma Karamanoukian, who had provided key minutes for Teoh earlier in the game, scored a corner three and a fast break in the final 34 seconds to boost SF's margin to 30.
The varsity win followed a JV Gold victory largely led by its two ninth graders. Walker finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds to earn head coach John Bashore's "Hard Hat Award" for hustle, while guard Colleen Medina led all players with a career-high 20 points plus four assists and five steals.
Friday marked Walker's second double-double of the year, following the 13 and 12 she posted against Heritage at Oak Ridge's Trojan Toss-Up tournament in late December. Mackenzie Tan added another 18 points for the Troubie Gold. The trio of Medina, Tan and Walker each scored twice in a pivotal second quarter that stretched a tight 16-14 battle into a comfortable 32-20 halftime edge.
Tan poured in three buckets in the third and Medina matched that total in the fourth. Tan's 18 marked her second-highest performance of the year, behind only the 23 she amassed against host Oak Ridge at the Trojan Toss-up event.
Both St. Francis JV Gold and varsity remain on the road for continued Delta League play, traveling to Davis on Tuesday for a 5:30/7 p.m. doubleheader. The Troubies then take on Christian Brothers for the annual "Holy Hoops" rivalry match on January 14. Meanwhile, SF's JV Red squad returns to action at Folsom on Thursday for the first of four straight road games in January.
