ROCKLIN, Calif. – Freshman Colleen Medina scored 17 total points while sophomore Karly Okamoto earned head coach John Bashore's "Hard Hat Award" for hustle with her team highs of eight rebounds, four assists and three steals, helping JV Gold to a 42-33 win over Rocklin in the opener of a non-league girls' basketball doubleheader Tuesday night.
The Troubie JV Gold improves to 2-1. The win was ofollowed by varsity's 65-39 victory to complete the sweep, which guard Sydney Teoh scored a game-high 24 points, senior wing Jadyn Weaver added 12, and the defense held the Thunder to almost 13 minutes without a field goal. The SF varsity stays unbeaten at 3-0.
Medina scored seven of her offensive output in a 13-8 first quarter, while JV Red call-up Gianna Seghesio scored a pair of field goals in the second to keep the Troubies in front by a 23-14 halftime margin.
Rocklin rallied back to within a three-point margin of 25-22 at the 3:25 mark, but Seghesio answered with a corner three on a kickout pass from – appropriately enough – JV Red teammate Annie Swanson. On loan from head coach Ryan Chisolm's all-frosh JV squad, Swanson finished with four rebounds to bolster the eight from Okamoto and the seven from freshman Reese Walker.
In the nightcap, Teoh drained seven field goals and hit 10 of 12 from the free-throw line en route to her 24 points. She drew contact on drives through the lane four times, while repeatedly snapping the net with a mid-range jumper throughout the contest. Weaver, hit a pair of three-pointers, including one as part of SF's 14-5 start to the contest.
Technically, the Troubies rallied from an early deficit, as senior Beau Seipler drained a trey at the 6:34 mark in the first to propel the Thunder to a 5-2 lead. However, that proved to be the last field goal for Rocklin for more than 13 minutes – a drought that ended with Reina Herndon's layup with 1:43 to go in the first half. By then, St. Francis had amassed a 31-11 lead, with Teoh scored 10 points in the first four minutes of the second frame. The Troubies led 35-13 at the break.
Rocklin came out firing in the second half, with Madison Stockwell scoring on back-to-back fast breaks to cut the deficit to 37-24. However, Weaver responded with a three-pointer on the other end with 5:12 left to briefly halt the comeback. Seipler hit another three with well beyond the arc at 2:29, bringing the margin to 42-27. However, the Thunder was called for a technical foul on the play. Teoh knocked down both free throws, then she and Kyla Escalante hit both ends on two trips to the line in the final minutes. Still, Rocklin rallied back with yet another three-pointer, this time from Kiera Catubig-Hess; and a Seipler drive through the lane. Thanks to its first-half heroics, SF maintained a 48-33 lead into the final quarter despite the Thunder offense in the third.
The Troubie defense shut down Rocklin yet again in the fourth, with junior Chidera Okoye's dominance on the boards playing a part. She finished with a team-high 10 rebounds, including nine underneath the Thunder hoop. Teoh racked up another six total points in the fourth, while Lexi London, Sophie Harris and Emma Karamanoukian each buried long-range bombs to help SF pull away to the 26-point win.
All three St. Francis basketball teams pause for the Thanksgiving break before returning to action late the following week. The JV Red heads to Kennedy for a recently added contest on December 1, then join their older Troubie sisters in a home tripleheader the next day: JV Red vs. Nevada Union at 4 p.m., then JV Gold and varsity against Rodriguez at 5:30 and 7 p.m.
