ROCKLIN, Calif. – Guard Lucia Vicio totaled 20 points and three assists in a 59-7 win over Woodcreek, then Colleen Medina led with 14 points as the Troubadours lost a 42-38 thriller to the Chico frosh, as St. Francis' Red junior varsity squad split its first-day slate at the Rocklin Winter Invitational JV basketball tournament Wednesday morning.
JV Red moves to 8-3 on the season. The team's slate at the Rocklin tourney originally called for one game per day, but the withdrawal of Oak Ridge rewrote the schedule on Tuesday night. Instead, St. Francis played back-to-back games in Wednesday's session, and drew new opponents and start times for Thursday and Friday.
Vicio scored exactly half of her 20 points in the second quarter against Woodcreek, including a run of three straight buckets in the first 90 seconds of the frame. Lauren Herbelin added 10 points for the contest, while Nevaeh Gavino hit a pair of three-pointers as part of her eight total tallies.
Defensively, St. Francis held the Timberwolves scoreless from the 3:45 mark of the first quarter to 3:49 in the third for almost exactly 16 minutes. Vicio poured in eight more points in the fourth, then assisted Annie Swanson and Gianna Seghesio for the final two Troubie scores.
In Wednesday's "late" game, Medina – on loan from St. Francis' JV Gold – scored seven of her 14 total points in the fourth. She opened the quarter with a transition basket to give her team a 25-24 lead, but the Troubies went on a cold streak in similar plays, missing on four straight fast-break opportunities. Swanson hit a pair of free throws then assisted Seghesio during what was otherwise a 13-4 run for the Panthers. Chico led by a 37-29 margin with 2:27 remaining.
Medina's pull-up jumper at 2:17, then her three-pointer at 1:22 helped cut the deficit to 39-34. Panther guard Kylie Vaughn answered on the other end to extend the lead back to seven, and Kylie Smith hit the front end of a one-and-one trip to push Chico out to a 42-34 lead with 48 seconds to go. However, St. Francis made the most of its next two possessions, with Seghesio and Herbelin each drawing fouls and hitting both shots from the line. With 13.3 seconds remaining and Chico holding a 42-38 lead, the Troubies had another chance: the Panther inbound throw went untouched for the length of the court, giving SF possession under its own goal. But Chico made the stop and maintained possession to kill the final seconds.
The Troubies led briefly against the Panthers in each of the second and fourth quarters, but Chico erased the advantage immediately on both occasions. Swanson hit Abbey Pavelchik for a score at 4:17 in the third to give SF a 16-14 lead, only to see Evelyn Bently hit yet another Chico player named Kylie – Kylie Spencer – for the equalizer on the next trip the other way. Spencer followed with a three-pointer off the glass at 2:10 to restore the Chico lead to 19-16. Medina's fast break to start the fourth marked the next SF lead, but Hayden Henning's baseline score began the crucial 13-4 run for the Panthers in the finale.
St. Francis will face Antelope at 9 a.m. on Thursday, then will rematch against Woodcreek at 9 a.m. on Friday. Both contests are new times and opponents to previously published games.
