SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The trio of senior Lexi London, freshman Elise Vipond and freshman Hassanah Ramsey-Gilbert scored in double digits to lead St. Francis to a 56-38 win over Grant Union in the varsity nightcap of a non-league girls' prep basketball doubleheader Tuesday night.
The Troubadours pick up their third straight win to improve to 5-3 overall. This also marks their third straight game and fifth overall in which they held an opponent to fewer than 40 points, thanks in part to 25 total steals. The Pacers even their season record to 3-3.
London shot 8-for-17 from the floor as part of 19 points to complement a team high of seven steals. Vipond drained a pair of three pointers and hit 7 of 8 from the free-throw line en route to 19 points of her own. Ramsey-Gilbert finished with 16 points, six rebounds and six steals. Junior Natalia Zitelli had the remaining two points, scoring on a London assist to cap a 10-3 SF start to the contest.
St. Francis' key stretch came late in the third period, when three Ramsey-Gilbert steals plus another pickpocket by senior Colleen Medina propelled the Troubies to a run of 12 unanswered, stretching what had been a two-possession margin of 31-27 midway through the frame to a 43-27 lead by the 1:45 mark. Perhaps the offensive highlight of the contest came during that run: London collected a swing pass from Medina, then drained an NBA-range bomb for her team's 39th, 40th and 41st points.
Medina had both the steal and the assist on the London trey, part of her totals of four and four in those two categories.
SF opened the game with a 10-3 start, with Grant junior Asia Washington scoring her team's lone bucket in that span. However, Pacer guard Lillian Gibbs-Beaver drained back-to-back threes before assisting freshman La'Nae Hayes to pull Grant to within a 13-12 margin with 35 seconds left in the opening frame.
The Troubies responded with 10 straight points, with London's drive to end the first and two Ramsey-Gilbert scores early in the second stretching the lead to 22-12 with 6:27 to go before halftime. Washington drove the lane three times for the Pacers in a span of 90 seconds, and 6-foot-3 center Adrienne Franklin finished the half with another field goal in the paint, holding SF to a 26-20 lead at the break.
Washington and Grant junior Oranell Latham each scored twice to help close the gap to 31-27 by the 5:30 mark in the third period. Ramsey-Gilbert later drew contact near the left block and drained the second free throw to make it 32-27 at the 3:58. That began the pivotal 12-0 Troubie run, with St. Francis heading to the fourth period with a more comfortable 44-29 edge.
The Pacers never approached closer than an 11-point deficit. Ramsey-Gilbert blocked Washington on a shot that would have trimmed the lead to single digits, then Zitelli assisted Vipond for a three-pointer with 3:59 left in the game, boosting the Troubies back to a 50-36 advantage. London finished a pair of baseline drives and freshman Natalie Dimen assisted Ramsey-Gilbert on a nifty feed from the right side to seal the win down the final stretch. Meanwhile, the SF defense smothered Grant to just a single field goal in the final 4:55 of play.
The Troubadours' varsity win followed a 67-51 win by the St. Francis JV Gold squad. Junior Audrey Bashore scored a game-high 24 points, including six in the Troubies' 16-4 start, while sophomore Emmy Cheatham buried three buckets from beyond the arc as part of a season-best 14 points. Sophomores Catherine Gustafson and Saihej Sekhon each contributed seven points as Gold led wire to wire for its 10th straight victory to start the season.
St. Francis varsity returns to action in the West Coast Jamboree, which consists of three games at three different sites on Saturday, Monday and December 30 (CIF rules prohibit competitions on Sundays). The actual dates, times and locations will be announced later in the week at westcoastjamboree.org.
The Gold and Red jayvees break for the holidays, with their next games taking place as part of the Sierra Foothill League-opening home tripleheader against Del Oro on January 5.
