EL DORADO HILLS, Calif. – Freshmen Peyton Smith and Lydia Holcomb each earned JV Gold's "Hard Hat" award in a 38-34 league win at Oak Ridge, while four players each scored two points for a short-handed JV Red in a 37-8 loss at Antelope, as St. Francis' two junior varsity programs competed in two different parts of the greater Sacramento area Thursday night.
The Gold Troubadours improve to 12-3 for the season and 2-3 in Sierra Foothill League play. The Red squad slips to 1-9 for the year.
Junior Audrey Bashore led Gold with 17 points, while Smith added another eight. However, it was Smith's defensive effort that earned her a share of the team's award for hustle: she matched Bashore's total of four steals, which led to numerous transition scores. Smith shot 4-for-7 overall. Catherine Gustafson and Saihej Sekhon also made two field goals apiece to aid in the SF offensive output.
Holcomb played reserve minutes but enjoyed an unusual milestone to earn her piece of the Hard Hat: she drew the first charge of the season for JV Gold.
The Troubies and Trojans squared off on a night that normally would include a frosh-soph game, if Oak Ridge had such a team this season. Instead, St. Francis' JV Red went up Interstate 80 for a long-league game against Antelope as a lead-in to the Titans' Metro Conference doubleheader with Cordova. Natalia Esparza, Avery Taylor and Elle Renzo each hit field goals while Sadie Favreau scored a pair of free throws to account for the Troubie offense.
The SF varsity squad makes its won visit to Oak Ridge on Friday as part of a doubleheader with the Jesuit boys team. The Troubies tip off at 5:30 p.m. Then all three teams return home for the "Holy Hoops" rivalry tripleheader against Christian Brothers: 2:30 p.m. for Red, 4 p.m. for Gold, with varsity tipping off in a 5:30 p.m. finale.
Holy Hoops represents a meeting between the area's top two Catholic girls' programs. Links to tickets went to families of each school earlier in the week and are now open to the public at https://gofan.co/event/5485370?schoolId=CA8032.
