SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Senior Lexi London scored a team-leading 19 points, including the 1,000th of her career, as St. Francis held on to defeat Rocklin by a 48-42 final in the varsity finale of a Sierra Foothill League girls' basketball doubleheader Tuesday night.

The Troubadours improve to 10-13 for the year, with a 4-7 mark in league play. The Thunder falls to 8-16 overall, including 1-9 in SFL games.

London entered Tuesday's contest with 993 points, with exactly 999 as St. Francis went to the break with a 23-20 lead. Her milestone score came on the first possession of the second half: she attempted to drive the left baseline, but with Rocklin junior Gisele Negueloua impeding that path, the Occidental College commit instead spun to her left before delivering a jump book from the left block.

London also hit 6-for-6 from the free-throw line, getting two such trips as a result of Rocklin technical fouls at the 1:25 mark in the second and 0:14 in the fourth. Furthermore, she posted six rebounds with a team-best three steals plus a blocked shot against Thunder junior Lily Hoff late in the first half. Freshman Hassanah Ramsey-Gilbert added 16 points and 16 rebounds, with half of the points coming at the stripe.  

Freshman Elise Vipond and junior Audrey Bashore each added field goals as part of seven and two points respectively. Natalia Zitelli added three points, all at the line. Overall, St. Francis shot just 29 percent from the field (12-for-41), including 1 of 12 from three-point range. However, the lone trey came at a key moment: Rocklin had rallied back to a 26-26 tie early in the third, then in the wake of a Ramsey-Gilbert block on the defensive end, London turned a Colleen Medina pass into a shot off the glass to make it 29-26 with 4:24 in the period.

The two teams battled closely in the first period, trading the lead six times in the first 5:32 of play. Vipond made both three throws after taking a foul in transition, boosting SF to a 9-8 lead and kicking off what grew into a 10-2 overall run. The Troubies never trailed after that stretch, leading 17-10 through the first and clinging to the three-point edge at the halftime break.

Rocklin managed to tie the game twice in the third: first on Hoff's three-pointer at 6:26 to equalize at 26-26. Negueloua buried two bombs down the stretch of the third, with Hoff adding another with 0:51 to go, helping to enter the fourth with a 35-35 deadlock. A Vipond drive to start the fourth followed by a pair of free throws from Rocklin junior Cara Murphy evened the contest for a third time at 37-37 with 5:43 in the fourth. Bashore answered with her drive from the right side on the next SF possession, the London followed suit at the 4:18 mark as part of a stretch of six unanswered to boost the Troubies back to a 43-37 advantage.

The Thunder managed to close to within three points on two different occasions across the final two minutes, but early fouls continued to send St. Francis to the free-throw line. London's foul shots after the second Rocklin technical made it 46-41, then Zitelli drew a foul after London's steal of the ensuing inbound pass. Zitelli sank both to all but ice the game, boosting the lead to 48-41 with only 13 ticks left.

London also hit another milestone for the night, with the 19 points bringing her 2025-26 season total to 400. She needs just five more to surpass former teammate Sydney Teoh for No. 10 in the SF record book. In turn, Teoh was the previous Troubadour to crack quadruple digits on the career points list, finishing with 1,167. Lauren Craig, a 2017 grad who went on to play at Pepperdine, holds school records for career points (1,260) and career rebounds (1,153), among other superlatives.

The varsity win followed a decisive 35-14 victory for JV Gold in Tuesday's opener. Sophomore Saihej Sekhon led the Troubies with 13 points and eight rebounds, freshman Anna Maranto tallied five steals and a three-pointer, with sophomore Piper Bates grabbing six more boards. Sophomore Emmy Cheatham added nine points while draining her team's other trey.

Overall, JV Gold opened to a 15-0 run, with Peyton Smith converting two fast breaks in a 6-0 first period and Sekhon tallying seven points in the second. SF led 17-2 at halftime, extended its edge to 29-4 through three frames, and pulled to as much as 33-4 when Cheatham assisted Carley Glenn on a bucket with 5:08 left in the fourth.  

St. Francis varsity and JV Gold return to action on Thursday for a doubleheader against Oak Ridge, while JV Red waits until Friday for a non-league road game at West Park.