SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Claire Cuckovich scored 20 points while Bianka Bagatelos added another 10, earning all-tournament honors and leading Sacred Heart to a 34-24 win over St. Ignatius in the St. Francis PAL basketball tournament Sunday evening. Cuckovich also earned tourney MVP distinction.

Sacred Heart advanced to the championship game by way of wins against St. James (47-28) and Our Lady of Grace (48-15) in Saturday's action. St. Ignatius rolled past St. Joseph (34-5) and St. Francis Elementary (39-9) to earn the title berth against Sacred Heart. Sunday's session also included the tourney's third-place game, with St. Francis holding on to a 24-23 thriller against OLG.

Sacred Heart led wire to wire in the championship, with Bagetelos scoring three field goals in a 10-0 run that lifted the Panthers to a 14-3 lead by the end of the first period. Bagetelos later buried a corner three at the 4:00 mark in the third to make it a 23-12 game. Meanwhile, Cuckovich scored three times in the third period alone, knocking down midrange jumpers that each padded the margin to double digits: 20-10 at 5:16 and 27-16 with 1:35 left. 

Cuckovich the added three field goals and a 2-for-2 trip to the line in the fourth , ensuring at least an 11-point lead down the stretch.

St. Ignatius was led by its two towers: seventh grader Hassanah Ramsey-Gilbert, who scored 10 points with six blocked shots; and eighth grader Alli MacDonald, one of the leaders of the Tiger volleyball team during its PAL tourney title last fall. MacDonald matched Ramsey-Gilbert's 10 points. In fact, the latter assisted the former with a minute left in the third to cut the lead to 27-18. MacDonald scored twice in the fourth, both on Joie Dickerson assists, but SI's hopes to whittle down the deficit were routinely dashed with Panther interceptions.

The PAL volleyball and basketball tournaments feature schools from the Parochial Athletic League, all of which fall under the auspices of the Diocese of Sacramento that oversees SFHS. Full results are listed below.

2024 ST. FRANCIS PAL BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
St. Francis High School (Sacramento, Calif.)

FIRST ROUND
St. Francis 28, St. John Notre Dame 24
St. Ignatius 34, St. Joseph 5
Our Lady of Grace 26, St. Mary 17
Sacred Heart 47, St. James 28

CONSOLATION GAMES
St. John Notre Dame 51, St. Joseph 28
St. Mary 27, St. James 26

SEMIFINALS
St. Ignatius 39, St. Francis 9
Sacred Heart 48, Our Lady of Grace 15

THIRD PLACE: St. Francis 24, Our Lady of Grace 23

CHAMPIONSHIP: Sacred Heart 34, St. Ignatius 24

TOURNAMENT MVP: Claire Cuckovich, Sacred Heart

ALL-TOURNAMENT:
Claire Cuckovich, Sacred Heart
Bianka Bagatelos, Sacred Heart
Hassanah Ramsey-Gilbert, St. Ignatius
Lola Hammond, St. Francis
Elizabeth McNearney, OLG
Ella Reis, St. James
Emily Nguyen, St. Mary
Rylee Tibon, St. John Notre Dame
Lorelai Carlson, St. Joseph