ELK GROVE, Calif. – Sophomore guard Sydney Teoh poured in a career-best 26 points while assisting a game-winning three-pointer from Jadyn Weaver with less than two minutes left in the contest, lifting St. Francis to a 58-53 win over Pleasant Grove in the varsity end of a Delta League girls' basketball doubleheader Monday night.
Teoh surpassed her previous best of 24, set in a road win at Rocklin back on November 22. The Troubadours improve to 20-4 for the season, and remain undefeated in Delta League play at 10-0.
Junior Chidera Okoye notched yet another double-double of 12 pounds and 12 rebounds, while matching Brianna McGahan for the team lead with four steals.
Weaver drained the go-ahead trey with 1:52 left in the fourth, unleashing her shot just beyond the right elbow. This came just 20 seconds after Emily Bowman had provided the Eagles with their last lead of 53-51, and began a 7-0 finish for the Troubies.
Bowman's bucket came as a result of an overturned officiating call and a physical mismatch between herself and Weaver. With the score at 51-51 in the wake of two Weaver free throws, SF was briefly granted possession on a double-dribble. However, the call was correctly reversed, PG kept possession, and the Eagles' 6-foot-1 Bowman backed the 5-7 Weaver into the lane before turning toward the hoop for the score at the 2:11 mark. But Weaver got those points back and more with her successful three – just her second of the game on seven tries.
Okoye also came up big in those final two minutes. She created a stop against PG with a steal at 1:34. Then after a St. Francis missed shot resulted in a team offensive rebound, Okoye beat the taller Bowman with a left-handed move to the rim to extend the lead to 56-53. The Eagles missed three shots on the next possession giving St. Francis the opportunity to wind down the last 40 seconds of regulation. With only five team fouls against, PG needed to foul Teoh twice to have any chance for final possession, but Teoh sank both ends of the one-and-one trip to seal the victory.
The varsity thriller followed a much wider margin of victory for St. Francis' JV Gold, which rode a 25-1 start to a 66-24 win over PG in the opener. Sophomore guard Mackenzie Tan scored 22 points, 17 of which came in that opening frame. Point guard Karly Okamoto added six points, seven assists and four steals.
The usually guard-heavy Troubies also enjoyed offensive production from their posts: Perpetua Nwaukoni scored eight points, Reese Walker had seven, Alexis Heise added six, and Sophia Hendrix tallied another four. Heise also pulled down a team-best nine rebounds to earn her team's "Hard Hat" award for hustle.
St. Francis varsity and JV Gold return home for games against Sheldon and Davis on Wednesday and Friday. In the meantime, the Troubies' all-freshman JV Red will play its season finale at Oak Ridge on Tuesday.
