EL DORADO HILLS, Calif. – In St. Francis' most thrilling game of its three levels at Oak Ridge's Trojan Toss-Up basketball tournament, freshman Colleen Medina scored 12 points with seven rebounds while sophomore Karly Okamoto added eight points as JV Gold held on to a 42-37 win over Rocklin Wednesday night.
All three SFHS programs are in action at ORHS' annual holiday tournament. A total of five Troubie players scored in double figures as varsity dispatched Nevada Union by a 80-20 final in its first-round matchup, while JV Red fell to the host Trojans, 42-29, in the Frosh Jamboree portion of the day.
St. Francis varsity moves to 9-2 for the year, coming off a second-place showing in Del Oro's Takayama Memorial tourney just four days earlier. JV Gold wins its third straight game to improve to 7-2. JV Red ends a four-game winning streak to slip to 5-2 for the year.
In the JV Gold game, both teams struggled offensively in the first quarter before the Troubies managed to craft a 20-11 halftime edge. Mackenzie Tan opened the second quarter with a three-pointer, then assisted Medina on another at the 5:36 mark to create the initial separation on the scoreboard.
Medina scored on a runner and a turnaround jumper to start the third, extending SF's lead to 24-11. However, that began a scoring outburst from Rocklin freshman Angelina Abdelmessih, who scored 14 of her 26 total points in a span of less than five minutes in that third stanza. Her fast-break score at 1:16 closed the gap to 31-27. Then after Sophia Hendrix scored a putback with 1:02 left, she assisted on another Thunder bucket to keep the margin at four heading to the final quarter.
Caitlyn Lee knocked down a baseline runner, Okamoto scored a 15-footer off the glass and Medina turned a Tan pass into a three-pointer to extend the SF lead to 40-32 with less than three minutes remaining. Rocklin continued to claw away at that lead, with a three-pointer at 0:36 making it a one-possession game at 40-37. Medina and Reese Walker each grabbed defensive rebounds to keep Rocklin off the board, then Medina assisted Reese on a buzzer-beater.
In the varsity contest, senior Jadyn Weaver led the varsity scorers with 17 points on 7-for-15 shooting in the win over the Miners. She also had six steals, just one behind sophomore teammate Sydney Teoh. Freshman Lexi London sank a pair of three-pointers en route to her first double-digit output of 13 points. Teoh, Chidera Okoye and Brianna McGahan added 10 points each.
In fact, all 10 active Troubadours scored at least one bucket in the win: Audrey O'Donnell chipped in six points to go with four rebounds and a block, Emma Karamanoukian, Sophie Harris and Emily Dusel each added four points; while Kyla Escalante scored two to supplement her three steals.
JV Red was the first St. Francis team in action during the day, battling Oak Ridge to an even 10-10 matchup in the first. However, the Troubadours went scoreless in the second to fall into a 20-10 halftime hole. Guard Nevaeh Gavino scored 16 of her team's 29 points, including four field goals in the first quarter.
Both St. Francis varsity and JV Gold will face the tourney hosts in their respective Thursday semifinals. JV Gold tips off at 2:30 with the varsity playing at 7 p.m. in the main "Trojan Arena" gym. Meanwhile, JV Red will face Nevada Union at 2 p.m. in the small gym.
