SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Sophomore Audrey Bashore scored 12 points while freshman Lena Mundhenk blocked four shots and grabbed a team-leading nine rebounds, but St. Francis junior varsity could not overcome an initial scoreless drought in falling to Oak Ridge, 55-32, in Sierra Foothill League girls' basketball action Thursday.
The Troubadours complete their penultimate week of the season with an 8-17 overall record and a 3-9 SFL mark. The Trojans improve to 18-4 for the year and 9-2 in league play.
Bashore, on loan from the varsity team to fill the absence of Jocelyn Dickinson and Catherine Gustafson, sank four field goals and made four free throws while grabbing six rebounds. Mundhenk, Jocelyn Villaflor, Emmy Cheatham and Keanna Daneshvar each hit a pair of buckets. Mundhenk banked in a three-pointer in the second period while Daneshvar buried one of her own in the fourth, oddly both coming off an inbound assist from Cheatham.
Unfortunately for St. Francis, Oak Ridge exploded for 15 unanswered points in the first four minutes of play as part of an overall 26-2 outburst in the opening frame. Only a Mundhenk putback at 4:06 kept the Troubies from a shutout period. However, SF recovered in the second with back-to-back second-chance baskets: Bashore, after getting her first shot blocked; followed by Daneshvar, who turned a weakside offensive rebound into two points.
Mundhenk's trey with 17 seconds left closed the gap to 33-11 in Oak Ridge's favor. In fact, St. Francis outscored its guests by a 30-29 margin after that initial first-period climb, although the overall margin also never dropped below 20. Seven of the 11 Trojan points in the fourth came from the free-throw line, as the Troubies fell into foul trouble relatively early.
Thursday's JV-only night continues a three-game homestand for the younger Troubie squad. Varsity returns to action on Friday at Oak Ridge as part of a doubleheader with Jesuit. The Troubies tip off at 5:30 with the Marauders following at 7 p.m.
