SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Junior Brianna McGahan scored a team-best 15 points while senior Jadyn Weaver drained a trio of three-pointers, but St. Francis surrendered 14 unanswered to start the contest in falling by a 74-36 final to McClatchy in the second round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division-1 girls' basketball tournament Thursday night.
The fifth-seeded Troubadours snap a 10-game winning streak to move to 23-5 overall. The Lions also have prevailed in 10 straight, not counting a forfeit, to improve to 25-5 for the year.
McGahan scored three of her field goals and assisted another in the second frame. Weaver had all three of her treys after the break, sinking one on a kickout from McGahan late in the third, then converting assists from Sydney Teoh and Sophie Harris at the start and end of the fourth period.
McGahan also shared the team lead with six rebounds, matching Emily Dusel and Chidera Okoye. However, CKM stormed to a 14-0 start before even allowing an SF field goal attempt. Teoh put the Troubies on the board on a steal and fast break – coincidentally, against former teammate Sianna Squires – with a minute left in the first frame. But Lion sophomore Nina Cain sank both ends of a one-and-one trip to the line, junior Kaela Williams followed with her own steal-and-bucket combo, then Williams finished the quarter with a corner three to lift CKM to a 21-2 edge.
Cain and senior guard Tamaria Rumph each scored eight points in the second to boost the Lion lead to 40 at halftime, 52-12. However, SF outscored its hosts in the third frame, with McGahan and Okoye each converting and-one opportunities in the opening minutes of the half. Still, the Troubies never closed the gap by less than 34 – on Weaver's three-pointer at the top of the key with 6:34 in the fourth – the McClatchy invoked the running-clock rule when Cain sank two free throws midway through the final stanza.
Cain led CKM with 22 points while Norret Lewis added another 15. Rumph had 12, all in the second half. She also assisted Lewis on a score and Milah Masters for two other buckets in her team's commanding second-quarter performance.
St. Francis now awaits the outcome of all CIF-SJS tournaments, hoping to snare the section's one at-large berth in the state tournament. The Troubadours rank seventh in the section by MaxPreps, trailing Folsom, St. Mary's, Antelope, McClatchy, Christian Brothers and Vanden, while sitting ahead of Oak Ridge, Vista Del Lago and Colfax.
The CIF State Championship bracket will be announced officially on Sunday, February 26.
