ELK GROVE, Calif. – Senior Brianna McGahan and junior Sydney Teoh each drained four three-pointers en route to 24 and 18 points, respectively, while freshman Tayli Paeu-Lindgren scored eight of her 10 points in the final eight minutes of St. Francis' 62-58 overtime victory over Cosumnes Oaks in a Delta League girls' basketball doubleheader at the Wolf Den Thursday night.
The Troubadours improve to 10-11 for the year and 5-2 in league play. More importantly, the win completes a home-and-home sweep against the Delta League's current front runner, as the Wolfpack now drop to 6-2 in conference action.
McGahan hit 4-for-8 from beyond the three-point arc to go with team highs of eight rebounds and five steals. Teoh knocked down 4 of 6 from long range, including one at the 3:34 mark in overtime to provide the contest with its seventh overall tie. As for Paeu-Lindgren, she scored on an assist from Chidera Okoye to put the SF on top, 51-49, with 3:20 in the fourth. She later blocked a driving Isabel Tan with about two minutes left, then converted an assist from Teoh on the other end for a 53-50 lead at the 1:29 mark. Finally, Paeu-Lindgren had the 60-58 go-ahead bucket, with 3:05 left in overtime; then helped ice the game by sinking two bonus free throws with 20 seconds remaining.
Overall, the two teams battled tightly in the first half, exchanging leads nine times before a 15-2 Troubie run flipped a 23-21 deficit into a 36-25 edge down the back half of the second period. Laila Mendoza began the comeback with a steal that led to a Teoh three at the 4:19 mark, then Mendoza drove the lane to make it 26-23. McGahan and Teoh each scored twice to expand the lead to 34-25, with Paeu-Lindgren's cut through the paint boosting SF to its first double-digit lead of 36-25.
McGahan, Teoh and Lexi London each hit three pointers in the third to keep the Troubies in front by a 48-34 margin heading into the final regulation period. However, CO answered swiftly with a 13-0 run. Caitlin Subejano assisted Tan on a three-pointer to start that comeback, then she scored three more times herself. Then with 3:39 left in regulation, a midcourt trap by Subejano and Tan led to another Subejano fast break. That tied the game at 49-49, the first knot since a CO trip to the free-throw line in the early minutes of the second.
From that point, Paeu-Lindgren went to work with her offensive outburst. With the Troubies up by a 53-50 margin, Tan missed a step-back three but CO won the offensive rebound. Instead, Subejano hit a baseline floater with 0:55 remaining to close the gap to a single point. Teoh drew a foul underneath and sank both foul shots to push SF back up by a 55-52 lead.
At that point, an unexpected face came up huge for the Wolfpack: sophomore Sophia Mendenhall buried a corner three for her first basket of the game with just 14 ticks left in regulation. St. Francis now had possession, and a chance to win before overtime. McGahan won an offensive rebound and drew a foul by senior center Kym Hartman with roughly a second remaining. However, the clock did not stop on the official's whistle, and even after the discrepancy was corrected, Hartman's foul was ruled as a non-shooting foul on the rebound rather than the shot. McGahan could not get a catch-and-shoot opportunity to land, and the two teams went to extra time.
Tan, the reigning Delta League Player of the Year, drew first blood in overtime with a 25-footer, giving CO its first lead since the midpoint of the second. On the following possession, Teoh pulled up from the top of the key and hit a trey of her own. Soon after, Teoh followed with her feed to Paeu-Lindgren for the game-winner. Down two possessions, Tan and Mendenhall each fired shots but came up empty, with time expiring before the Wolfpack could hoist a third attempt.
The varsity win followed a more decisive 55-14 victory by St. Francis' JV Gold in Thursday's opener. Sophomore Nevaeh Gavino scored a team-best 14 points, including back-to-back threes to end of the first half. Freshman Layla Hernandez narrowly missed her seventh double-double, finishing with 12 points and nine rebounds. Freshman Audrey Bashore added seven points with seven rebounds, while notching four of her five steals as part of a 20-2 run in the third period.
In fact, the Troubies' overall defense proved so stifling that CO failed to even shoot for the first 4:33 of the contest.
Both JV Gold and varsity return to action at home against Delta League contender Franklin on Wednesday. In the interim, SF JV Red plays twice on the road: at El Dorado on Friday (4 p.m.) and Oak Ridge on Tuesday (4:30) p.m.
