photos by Charlie McDonald (charlie.mcdonald@surewestsports.com)
by Mike Finnerty (mike.finnerty@surewestsports.com)
The St. Francis Troubadours and the Del Oro Golden Eagles, section champions from a year ago, met up Wednesday at Del Oro High School with new-look rosters, but the same gritty play from both teams.
For St. Francis, gone from last year are the team's top four scorers. Players like Briana Charles, Jolise Limcaco, Beth Balbierz, and Ellie Early.
For Del Oro, they graduated four starters. A group that consisted of Madeline Campbell, Belle Obert, Crystal Sewell, and Becky Duncan. This foursome, along with junior Brianna Ruiz, was the backbone of a team that long time head coach Mike Takayama called his best team ever at Del Oro.
The first half was a tight, back and forth battle. Down 31-26 at the half, St. Francis caught fire in the third outscoring Del Oro 21-7 in the quarter that would carry the Troubadours to a 63-51 win.
Ruiz, one of the best players in the section, poured in 20 first half points, but the defense tightened and held Ruiz to only seven points in the second half.
"We really started sagging in so that our help defense was there to take away the dribble penetration and make everything difficult for Ruiz out there," said St. Francis head coach Vic Pitton. "You could see the way we kept throwing different people at her (Ruiz), we were able to make fatigue a factor out there, and that was a big cause for how we were able to make the run."
In the third, St. Francis found success attacking the basket, as well as hitting from outside, including three 3-pointers.
"We made the big shots when we needed to. We were able to take the lead and build on it quickly, and that really helped make a difference, especially with as many girls as I was able to rotate out there."
With everything going right St. Francis in the second half, Del Oro was able to cut the lead to seven at 58-51 with 1:27 left. The lead got to 61-51 with under a minute left in the game, essentially halting any comeback bid for the Golden Eagles.
Kristin Anderson was the only Troubadour in double figures with 13 points. MacKenzie Conarro had nine points, and Najah Queenland added eight, but Coach Pitton went deep to his bench and received contributions from many.
"I had kids coming off the bench that had not even played in the first half, come in and make some big contributions, and as usual, I rely a lot of waves of people to be successful and they showed up tonight and really helped out," said Pitton. "Anytime you can come in to a very difficult place to play, this gym is very difficult, they have a long tradition of winning in this gym, Mike runs a tremendous program, he has a quality team every year, we're lucky we got them early, and I feel very fortunate to come out with a win, and yes, it does build our confidence, just a wee bit."
St. Francis improves to 2-0 and will now play in the St. Hope Classic at Sacramento High this week. Del Oro drops to 3-1 and will be in tournament play this week with the Oak Ridge Shootout at Oak Ridge High School.