SACRAMENTO, Calif. – St. Francis shot just 9 of 45 from the floor and went almost 12 full minutes without a bucket in falling to McClatchy, 71-34, in the varsity nightcap of a non-league girls' prep basketball doubleheader Tuesday night.
The Troubies and Lions previously met in last year's Sac-Joaquin Section Division I tournament, with CKM prevailing with an eerily similar 74-35 score. St. Francis moves to 3-4 for the 2023-24 season.
Prior to the varsity loss, the two Troubie junior varsity squads split matchups in two different cities. JV Gold fell to McClatchy by a 51-25 final, while JV Red overcame a fourth-quarter deficit to snare a 28-24 win at Granite Bay earlier in the evening.
Junior Sydney Teoh shot 2-for-4 from beyond the three-point arc as part of a team-leading 10 points for varsity. Aubrey O'Donnell scored four points with six rebounds and a blocked shot, while fellow post Tayli Paeu-Lindgren scored five on 2-for-5 shooting before fouling out of the contest. Lexi London matched O'Donnell's team high of six rebounds and added seven points.
St. Francis fell into a 19-3 hole and sank further to a 28-5 deficit in the opening minutes of the second period, with all five tallies coming at the free-throw stripe. Teoh finally ended the shooting drought with she collected a kickout pass from London, then drained a three near the top of the key with 4:13 to go. Still, the Troubies struggled against CKM's 6-foot-2 center Nina Cain, who had 11 points and three blocked shots in the first half to send her team into the break with a 40-10 lead.
The Lions maintained at least a 24-point edge throughout the second half, although O'Donnell enjoyed a stretch late in the third and early in the fourth when she converted a Karly Okamoto assist, had the dime on a London three-pointer, and drove the lane – all in a span of about 90 seconds on either end of the period break.
The varsity loss followed a JV Gold setback in which the Troubies also struggled from the field (7-for-53) and with ball possession (29 turnovers). Freshman Layla Hernandez scored eight points and grabbed an astounding 17 rebounds, while sophomore Annie Swanson matched that point total while notching four steals.
Hernandez scored on a putback and converted the and-one free throw to bring the Troubies to within a 10-7 gap with 1:52 left in the first, only for the Lions to finish the frame with back-to-back threes – including one off the glass. SF later trailed 30-12 at the halftime break and 42-19 through the third.
In contrast, JV Red trailed for most of the game before coming back in the final period for the win in its thriller at Granite Bay. Jocelyn Villaflor finished with 10 points, including the go-ahead three-pointer in the fourth. Natalia Zitelli also poured in 10 points while running the point.
The Troubies trailed 13-9 at halftime and 20-16 entering the final stanza before coming alive offensively. Villaflor scored eight in the finale, including two three-pointers plus a layup with nine seconds left that clinched the victory.
The three SF squads head in different directions as the school begins final examinations later in the week. Varsity will compete in Del Oro's Mike Takayama Memorial Tournament, opening with Franklin of Stockton on Thursday afternoon at 4:30. Gold heads to rival Christian Brothers and its La Salle Classic, where the Troubies face Folsom at 3:30 on Thursday. The all-frosh Red will take the weekend off to focus on final exams, returning to action at Oak Ridge's Trojan Toss-Up on December 21-23.
