EL DORADO HILLS, Calif. – Senior Ava Jack and sophomore Emma Dietrich each scored hat tricks while freshman Gia Navarrete nabbed six steals in helping St. Francis hold on to a 12-11 victory over Ponderosa to close out Granite Bay's Grizzly Classic girls' water polo tournament Saturday at the El Dorado Hills CSD Community Pool.

The Troubadours went 3-1 at the tourney to improve to 6-10 overall. Their lone loss came as a 14-2 setback in an early-morning matchup against Christian Brothers Saturday.

Sophomore Kendal Douglas, who joined Maya Wenceslao as the only scorers against the Falcons in the Day 2 opener, added two goals with two steals against the Bruins. Wenceslao, Savannah Hamilton, Sara Ellis and Frannie Wells each chipped in one goal against Pondo.

St. Francis stormed to a 5-1 lead to open the afternoon tilt with the Bruins, with Wenceslao's feed to Ellis later extending the margin to 8-3 with three minutes remaining in the first half. However, the Bruins chipped away to an 8-5 margin at the break, then closed the gap to a single goal when freshman Kinly Skinner chased down an overthrown pass to finish a counterattack at the 5:22 mark.

Jack, who entered the game with just one goal in 11 games this season, responded with back-to-back successful lobs at the 5:08 and 3:33 marks, pushing SF back out to the 10-7 lead. The Troubies extended their lead to 12-8 with 1:05 remaining when Wells fired a shot off the crossbar with such forced that it caromed back out to the perimeter. Wells had already begun retreating to the defensive end but recovered in time to collect her own rebound, then fire in a second-chance goal to boost SF's edge to four at 12-8.

Still, Pondo rallied its way back to a one-goal deficit: Taylor Epperson's outside shot with 33 ticks left in the third, Hannah Hauck's wide-opne look at 5:33 in the fourth, then Skinner's finish of an Epperson counterattack with 4:18 left to play.

St. Francis opted to guard against the Bruin counterattack, which left the offense shorthanded but also gave goalkeeper Sasha Michon some support on the defensive end for the remainder.

With 1:29 remaining in the game, Pondo called a timeout. Under the Grizzly Classic rules, teams were permitted just two timeouts for the game rather than the normal three 60- and one 30-second break. This rule loomed large when Sarah Davidson drew an exclusion in the final minute, but the Bruins no longer had a timeout to set up a 6-on-5 play. Pondo failed to convert, leaving St. Francis with possession and 25 seconds to burn. Wenceslao killed 20 of those seconds before an ordinary foul allowed her to fire her free throw to Dietrich at midtank.

For her part, Michon tallied 10 saves, with seven such blocks coming in that pivotal third quarter. Additionally, Douglas and Wenceslao posted steals down the stretch to keep Pondo from equalizing.

Saturday's afternoon thriller stood in contrast to the morning loss to CB, in which the Troubies allowed seven unanswered goals into the second quarter. Douglas put SF on the board, turning an Ellis entry pass into a goal from set at 5:32. Douglas then assisted Wenceslao for a perimeter strike 50 seconds later.

However, the Falcons tacked on two more goals to hold a 9-2 halftime lead, then held their Holy Water rivals to 0-for-12 shooting after the break.

The Grizzly Classic took place at three venues: at host Granite Bay's pool, at the Troubies' practice venue of American River College, and the EDH community pool. Coincidentally, St. Francis returns to action at the CSD pool on Monday for a Sierra Foothill League doubleheader. This date carries the league's Monday format: Jesuit JV and varsity at 4 and 5 p.m., followed by SF varsity and JV at 6 and 7 p.m., respectively.