GRANITE BAY, Calif. – Senior Sydney Teoh scored a game-high 20 points in her first full game back from injury as St. Francis rallied back from an early deficit to take as much as a four-point lead before eventually falling to Granite Bay, 55-51, in the varsity nightcap of a Sierra Foothill League girls' basketball doubleheader Wednesday night.
The Troubadours drop their sixth straight game to slip to 9-14 overall and 3-6 in league play. The Grizzlies improve to 8-14 for the year and pick up their first SFL win at 1-8.
The varsity setback followed a 47-38 victory for St. Francis junior varsity, with sophomores Layla Hernandez and Audrey Bashore each providing double-double while on loan from the older squad. Hernandez scored 16 points with 10 rebounds while Bashore chipped in 13 and 10 to go with a team-best four steals.
Junior Lexi London drained a pair of three-pointers as part of her 12-point effort, while junior Laila Mendoza hit five total field goals en route to 11 points. Mendoza opened the game with six in the first period, then her pull-up jumper gave SF its first lead of the game in the third at 37-36. Then after GB responded with a coast-to-coast score to regain the edge, Mendoza knocked down a corner three at the 4:05 mark of the third to set the board at 40-38 in the Troubies' favor.
Meanwhile, sophomore Tayli Paeu-Lindgren pulled down 12 rebounds, while head coach Brittany Woodard singled out the defensive efforts of sophomore guard Natalia Zitelli, whose play proved instrumental in the Troubies completing their comeback.
Granite Bay began the game with a 22-10 lead, with sophomore Kati Powell leading the charge with 13 points from all parts of the court: two three-pointers, a baby hook, a drive through the lane, a putback underneath, plus a bonus free throw while drawing contact in the backcourt with 29 seconds left.
Teoh exploded for eight points in the second period, capitalizing on the physical play that characterized the entire game. She made 4 of 5 from the line in that outburst, including the and-one throw on a fast break with 36 ticks left before halftime. That three-point play allowed SF to go to the break down just 31-27.
The Troubies continued to whittle away at the deficit in the third, with London and Teoh assisting each other on three-pointers at the 6:23 and 5:27 marks of the frame as part of a 10-3 run. The latter trey filled the hole to just 36-35, setting the stage for the pivotal Mendoza buckets. St. Francis continued to maintain a lead into the early part of the final period, with London sticking a 15-foot baseline jumper to keep the Troubies up, 46-42.
However, Alli Powell's second field goal of the fourth evened the score at 46-46, the first tie since Zitelli first put the Troubies on the board just a minute after the opening tip. London responded with a pull-up jumper 20 seconds later to restore the SF lead, only for Grizzly junior Anna Craven to come through with another equalizer a minute later. With the game deadlocked at 48-48, Hallie Tapuosi made a lunging save to prevent a ball from going into the stands. That pass found its way to Kati Powell, who drained a three for her only score after that first-quarter performance, providing GB with a 51-48 lead – its first since the SF comeback midway through the third.
Undeterred, Teoh hit another corner three with 2:39 left in dramatic fashion, with the ball touching the iron three different times before falling into the net. This tied the game yet again at 51-51, but it ended up being the final SF points. Alli Powell and Craven each scored down the final stretch while Tapuosi blocked London on a drive around the two-minute mark. In addition to her team-best 16 points, Kati Powell grabbed the defensive rebound that led to Craven's insurance basket with 45 seconds left.
The rollercoaster varsity contest stood in contrast to the JV game, in which St. Francis led wire-to-wire: 13-7 through the first, 30-18 at halftime, and 41-31 to end the third. Still, Granite Bay managed to pull within a single point after Leilani Teaupa's trey and Chloe Smith's pump fake resulted in a 13-12 SF lead. However, the Troubies responded with 10 straight from that point, with Hernandez scoring three times in the paint during that stretch.
A 7-0 Grizzly run during a 36-second span of the third reduced the Troubie lead to just two possessions with 2:20 left in the stanza, but Jocelyn Villaflor assisted Jocelyn Dickinson on the next SF trip down the court, beginning a 7-0 Troubie run into the fourth.
Emmy Cheatham scored eight points in support of her sophomore teammates, with three-pointers from either side of the court leading the Troubies in their 13-5 start to the game.
The two St. Francis teams split up for the rest of the week. The jayvees head to Rocklin for a 7 p.m. game at Whitney on Thursday, then varsity hosts the Wildcats on Friday as part of a doubleheader with Jesuit. Friday's game tips off at 6 p.m. after a Senior Night ceremony honoring Teoh and fellow guard Karly Okamoto. The Marauders then host Whitney on SF's floor at 7:30 p.m. that night.
