ELK GROVE, Calif. – Senior wing Brianna McGahan scored a career-high 30 points for the second game in a row while fellow 12th-grader Chidera Okoye led the boards with 10 rebounds, boosting St. Francis to a 66-41 win over Sheldon in the varsity half of Wednesday's Delta League girls' basketball doubleheader.
The Troubadours even their record to 13-13 and improve to 8-3 in their penultimate game as a Delta League member.
McGahan, who notched 30 points at Davis just two days earlier, hit 13 of 28 from the floor to go with nine rebounds. Okoye had 10 boards along with four steals and a blocked shot. Junior Sydney Teoh hit a pair of three-pointers as part of her 5-for-11 shooting en route to 13.
Overall, Okoye led multiple Troubies with strong rebounding numbers, along with McGahan, junior Aubrey O'Donnell (nine) and freshman Tayli Paeu-Lindgren (eight).
St. Francis led wire to wire, with Teoh and sophomore Lexi London draining threes within the first two minutes after the tip to craft an 8-2 start. McGahan later scored three times within a span of a minute to keep the Troubies in front by a 16-10 margin, but Husky seniors Charlize Miles and Nyah Duong kept their team within striking range in the first period.
Then to start the second, it was junior Jemiah Mallari who canned a midrange jumper to bring Sheldon to within a possession at 20-17. An errant pass into the backcourt allowed Kristy Lau a fast break, and Teoh was forced to foul Lau, who sank the back end of her trip to the free-throw line. That pulled Sheldon to its closest margin of 20-18.
McGahan answered with back-to-back treys to kick start a run of 14 unanswered points through the second. Teoh assisted O'Donnell and McGahan in that run while offering a three-pointer of her own during that stretch. St. Francis held a 36-20 lead at the halftime break, then stretched its advantage to 21 by the close of the third frame. O'Donnell's grabbed an offensive rebound and assisted McGahan for two with seconds left.
Paeu-Lindgren, Okoye, Caitlin Lee and Colleen Medina each scored field goals in the final quarter to hold off the Huskies.
The varsity win followed a 42-19 drubbing by St. Francis' JV Gold squad over the Huskies, with Nevaeh Gavino shooting 4-for-6 for a team-best nine points. The Troubadours overcame a cold start offensively to take a 9-2 lead after the first and a 19-9 edge at the break.
Oddly, JV Gold shot better from three-point range (5-for-14) than inside the arc (11-for-67), with Gavino, Lizzie David, Abbey Pavelchik, Bianca Espanola and Sienna Dukes striking from downtown. Gavino's trey capped an overall 12-0 run that lifted the Troubies to a 33-11 lead going into the final stanza.
The SF varsity and JV Gold squads close out the regular season on Friday against Pleasant Grove for a 5 p.m. doubleheader. Seniors McGahan and Okoye will be honored immediately following the JV Gold game prior to the 6:30 varsity tip.
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