SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Annie Swanson posted a double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds, while Lucia Vicio and Neveah Gavino each added 11 points, helping St. Francis' all-freshman JV Red squad score a 48-43 overtime win against Oak Ridge's junior varsity in a tournament game at Kennedy High Thursday night.
The Troubadours improve to 2-1 for the season. Thursday's contest was a relatively late addition to the schedule, with Kennedy needing to fill a cancellation at the Robby Nakamura Holiday Classic frosh tourney.
Swanson also had two assists to Abbey Pavelchik in the overtime period, including the 43-43 equalizer at the 3:18 mark and the go-ahead free throw a minute later. Swanson's front-end make provided SF with its first lead since the two-minute mark of the first quarter, while the 41-41 to force overtime was the game's first tie since ORHS guard Delaney Angel hit back-to-back buckets to make it 9-9.
Gianna Seghesio added another eight points and three assists, while her play late in regulation helped the Troubies finish their comeback. With her team still trailing by a 41-38 margin with 30 seconds left in the fourth, Seghesio grabbed a key defensive rebound then drew a foul while attempting to finish a fast break. She hit one of two from the line, then came up with a steal on the Trojans' next trip down. Seghesio fed an outlet pass to Vicio, who completed the transition at 0:13, tying the game at 41-all.
Seghesio also got the Troubies started off with a 5-0 run in the opening minutes. She buried a three-pointer from the left side just 69 seconds into the contest, then converted both attempts from the line after drawing contact on a drive at the 5:33 mark. Vicio later scored two buckets within a span of 11 seconds to give SF a 9-5 lead with 3:11 in the first.
However, that kicked off a run of 14 unanswered Oak Ridge points into the next frame. Kailey Dosh and Ruman Birak teamed up for a north-south score to lift the Trojans to a 19-9 lead at 5:15 in the second before SF snapped its scoreless stretch. Gavino earned a trip to the charity stripe and made both throws to make it 19-11. Lauren Herbelin and Gavino each made defensive plays that converted to a Seghesio drive and a pair of Swanson free throws, respectively, cutting the margin to 19-15. Still, the Troubies could not completely close the gap, with Angel knocking down back-to-back shots to restore the Trojan lead to 23-15. ORHS held a 24-17 halftime advantage, with Angel accounting for 13 of those points.
Herbelin had three steals in the first 2:08 of the third quarter, the third of which led to a Gavino fast-break basket to bring the Troubies to within a three-point, 27-24 margin. Again the Trojans had an answer, with Angel assisting Maddy Burns and Dosh on two scores, expanding the lead back to seven.
Vicio enjoyed a late surge to the third, scoring on a baseline drive with 30 seconds to go, then banking a three-pointer in the final seconds, bringing SF to within a 34-31 deficit. Oak Ridge came out of the fourth-quarter gates with a pair of field goals to stay ahead by 38-31, but opted to leave Swanson uncontested at the top of the key. Swanson knocked down an uncontested three to make it 38-34, then later had a pull-up jumper from nearly the same spot that brought the Troubies to within a 40-38 score with 2:33 left in regulation.
This set the stage for Seghesio's heroics, including her free throw and her assist to Vicio to force the extra time. She also notched a steal in SF's 7-0 finish to the game: knocking the ball loose for Herbelin to recover possession. That stop led to the second Swanson-to-Pavelchik conversion. After Vicio's coast-to-coast finish gave the Troubies a 48-43, Swanson grabbed her 11th rebound of the game with 28.6 seconds on the game clock and 20 ticks on the shot clock. SF head coach Ryan Chisolm gathered his team for a timeout, then the Troubies ran out the entire shot clock, giving the Trojans just eight seconds and a two-possession deficit. Sierra Kropf missed her shot and Swanson took the rebound at the buzzer to complete the win.
The JV Red victory comes less than 24 hours before the team hosts Nevada Union at 4 p.m. This contest will be followed by an early tip for the varsity: the Rodriguez JV squad canceled what would normally have been a 5:30 game against the SF JV Gold, meaning the Mustangs-Troubies varsity game moved up an hour to 6 p.m.
