SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Sophomore post Tayli Paeu-Lindgren notched team bests in points, rebounds, steals and blocks, but St. Francis fell to a 63-41 loss to Davis in the girls' opener of a rare dual-school Sierra Foothill League doubleheader Friday night.
The Troubadours drop their fourth straight game to slip to 9-12 on the season, 3-4 in league play. The Blue Devils improve to 13-8 overall, 4-3 in SFL contests.
Paeu-Lindgren shot 8-for-20 from the floor with seven rebounds, four blocks and four steals. She also had three assists, finishing behind only Karly Okamoto's four, among the last of the "big five" stats. Junior Lexi London finished with nine points while fellow 11th-grader Laila Mendoza added eight. Sophomore Natalia Zitelli earned a starting role due to the absence of senior guard Sydney Teoh, and scored four points while matching Paeu-Lindgren's four steals.
Mendoza and Paeu-Lindgren helped SF draw first blood in the contest, with the sophomore post winning the opening tip, then assisting Mendoza after getting knocked to the ground. However, Davis freshman Lorelei Nachman scored three of her eventual seven three-pointers to help the Blue Devils establish a 15-7 lead through the first period.
Mendoza enjoyed a productive first half, scoring three of her four buckets while assisting two of Paeu-Lindgren's five field goals before the break. Those two combined for three straight scores to pull within a 21-19 margin with 1:16 remaining in the second, but senior Naima Mincey knocked down a long two on the next possession to pad the Davis lead. Paeu-Lindgren answered that with a drive through the lane, only to have Nachman bury a three in the final seconds of the half. The Blue Devils held a 26-21 lead at the break, then began the third frame with an 8-0 run to bump their advantage to double-figures.
St. Francis never cut the deficit by fewer than 10 points for the remainder of the contest. Nachman's seventh trey gave Davis a 45-33 lead at the 5:48 mark in the fourth, with an Eva Makus bomb bloating the margin to its largest of 63-36 with just 1:35 remaining in the contest.
Zitelli had both of her scores in the third period, Okamoto opened the fourth with a steal and a full-court push, and Paeu-Lindgren gloved shots by Davis juniors Riley MacDonald and Sonia Clayton as the Troubies' major highlights of the second half.
For her part, Nachman netted her seven threes plus another field goal inside the arc and a perfect 6-for-6 from the free-throw line for 29 total points.
Friday's doubleheader represents a new twist with the realignment to the SFL. All programs host several boys-girls, varsity-only doubleheaders throughout the season, with Jesuit and St. Francis teaming up as counterparts. This was the first of the year at Jesuit's gym, while the Friday, January 31 date with Whitney will be the lone twinbill on the SF campus.
The two SF squads return to action on Monday in a home doubleheader with Del Oro. Junior varsity tips off at 6 p.m. with varsity following at 7:30.
Schedule Note: with the cancellation of the St. Francis PAL tournament and the logistics of Senior Night festivities taking place on the January 31 doubleheader, Monday's SF-DO game will become the annual PAL and Summer Camp Reunion night... Students wearing their uniform or their SF sports camp T-shirt will be admitted free to the game.
