EL DORADO HILLS, Calif. – Post Abbey Pavelchik scored 13 while guards Nevaeh Gavino and Lucia Vicio each added 12, as St. Francis' all-frosh JV Red battled back from two sizable deficits before ultimately falling by a 49-44 final to Oak Ridge's JV squad in prep girls' basketball action at Trojan Arena Thursday night.
The Troubadours move to 12-5 for the year. This is the team's third straight road game and the fifth overall road date, although games on January 4 and 13 were ultimately canceled.
After Gavino interrupted a 10-0 Trojan run in the first half with an assist to Pavelchik and a drive of her own, St. Francis trailed by as much as 20-12 midway through the second period. Gavino's steal and field goal brought SF back to a 15-12 deficit, but Delaney Angel followed with five straight points to bump Oak Ridge's lead to eight. The Troubies answered with seven straight points: an Annie Swanson three-pointer and back-to-back Vicio fast breaks, reducing the lead to just 20-19. Then facing a 24-19 deficit at halftime, Pavelchik knocked down a midrange jumper to start the third while Swanson buried her second three-pointer of the game to equalize at 24-24.
Oak Ridge later rattled off 13 unanswered points as part of a 17-4 finish after Swanson's trey to craft a 41-28 lead going into the fourth. The Trojans twice stretched their lead to 16 points on perimeter buckets from Angel and Maddy Burns early in the finale, the latter of which set the board at 47-31 with 5:35 to go.
Still, the Troubies refused to go quietly, as Burns' 15-footer ended up being Oak Ridge's last field goal. Swanson battled for an offensive board in time to feed Vicio for a cut through the pain at the 3:53 mark, initiating a 13-2 SF finish. Hannah Skaggs responded with both ends of a one-and-one trip to the line to bump the Trojan lead back to 16 for a third time at 49-33.
Pavelchik scored on an off-balance shot at 3:30, then was fouled on a fast break 18 seconds later, for which she hit the front end at the stripe. Gavino, who sat out the third quarter due to a bum ankle sustained in the first half, came back in for the final minutes. She scored on a pull-up jumper at 2:30 then later hit the back end of a two-shot visit to the stripe, cutting the ORHS lead to 10 at 49-39. Vicio notched a steal at midcourt and took it straight in with 1:27 left to bring the margin to single digits at 49-41. Lauren Herbelin grabbed a rebound on the defensive end to set the stage for a Gavino three-pointer with just 22 seconds left.
With only a two-possession lead, Oak Ridge missed the first shot of one-and-one for the second time, but St. Francis could not get its final shots to fall.
One of the early highlights in the game belonged to Gianna Seghesio, who heaved a desperation shot from halfcourt at the first-period buzzer. Her shot caught the inside of the iron on the left side, but didn't go in.
Thursday's game marked the third of four JV Red games against Oak Ridge in 2022-23. The Troubies defeated the Trojans in a fill-in game at Kennedy on December 1, then lost in the opener of the ORHS Frosh Jamboree 20 days later. The two teams will meet again for the season finale on February 7.
In the meantime, Red returns to action on Tuesday for a road game at Folsom. Tip-off is 4:30 p.m.
