SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Senior Jadyn Weaver, sophomore Sydney Teoh and junior Brianna McGahan each scored in double figures and combined for five of their team's eight three-point field goals, leading St. Francis to a 56-41 win over Franklin in the varsity nightcap of Friday's Delta League girls' basketball doubleheader.
The Troubadours improve to 15-4 for the season and remain atop the league standings at 5-0.
Weaver finished with 13 points, Teoh with 12 and McGahan with 10. Freshman Lexi London also hit a pair of treys for eight total points, all in a pivotal second-quarter run that saw St. Francis gain some separation from a close 14-12 battle in the first period. McGahan and Weaver connected from long range in back-to-back possessions, then McGahan assisted Emily Dusel in the paint with about 1:30 left in the opening frame to give the Troubies their initial lead. Then London, Teoh and Weaver knocked down their shots from beyond the arc to lift SF to a 30-19 halftime advantage.
McGahan poured in a pair of field goals in the third to maintain a 39-27 edge for SF, then Weaver scored five points in the first two minutes of the fourth period. She hit 3 of 4 from the free-throw line and converted an assist from Dusel to boost the Troubies to a 46-33 lead with 6:06 left. Chidera Okoye scored two buckets down the stretch to complete a 10-1 overall run, boosting the margin to 20 at 54-34 with three minutes left.
Isabelle Whitehead, who hit two three-pointers in Franklin's first-quarter surge, added another in the final minutes to finish her night with a team-best nine tallies.
In Friday's opener, freshman Reese Walker posted 10 points with six rebounds and three blocked shots to earn JV Gold's "Hard Hat" award for hustle, leading the Troubies to a 41-32 win over the Wildcats. Fellow ninth-grader Colleen McGee amassed a team-leading 14 points, 10 of which came in the first half.
Franklin rallied from a 21-14 deficit with an explosive third period, with sophomore Avielin Tankiamco scoring nine points in the stanza. Freshman Rhiannon Esguerra then hit a three with :09 left to complete the comeback, giving the 'Cats a 31-30 edge going into the finale.
Esquerra's trey proved to be the only lead for Franklin. Walker put the Troubies back on top with her putback early in the fourth, then later completed a three-point play with 3:32 to go. She grabbed the offensive board, went back up to score the layup and drew the and-one foul. Walker made the free throw to boost the lead to 35-31, continuing what ultimately grew to a run of 11 unanswered.
Sophomore post Alexis Heise also came up huge in the final period. She posted a steal down low to prevent a Franklin drive with four minutes left, won a scrum for a defensive rebound after Jada Yamzon missed the front end of a one-and-one trip to the line, then added another defensive board at the 1:53 mark. Heise followed as part of a trap that forced the Wildcats to call a timeout in avoiding another turnover, then posted another steal as the shot clock wound down.
Medina pulled up for a three-pointer at the 1:08 mark then assisted Heise on a fast break 20 seconds later in completing the 11-0 run, giving the Troubies a 10-point lead of 41-31.
Friday's game also served as PAL Night for St. Francis basketball, during which students from the Parochial Athletic League schools were on hand. Saint Mary Parish School had the best representation – perhaps not surprisingly, as JV Gold's John Bashore and Melanie Perron coached at that school prior to their arrival at SFHS.
Meanwhile in Placerville, St. Francis' all-frosh JV Red enjoyed a 46-27 win over El Dorado. Guard Nevaeh Gavino posted 17 of those 46 points, Annie Swanson hit two three-pointers as part of her eight points, while Lauren Herbelin and Bianca Espanola each added six points. Herbelin spread her three field goals evenly across the first three periods, while Espanola buried all of her scores in the fourth.
Defensively, the Troubies held the Cougars to a single field goal by Ashlyn Russell in the third period, stretching their 23-15 halftime edge to a commanding 37-17 lead going into the fourth.
St. Francis' JV Gold and varsity return to action at Elk Grove on Monday while JV Red heads to Oak Ridge on Thursday. Additionally, eight PAL member schools will be represented in the revival of the Troubies' annual tournament on February 4-5.
