ELK GROVE, Calif. – Elk Grove pulled away in the fourth quarter to record a 54-44 win over St. Francis on Tuesday in a Delta League matchup.

“I thought out effort was outstanding,” said Head Coach Vic Pitton. “Early in the game we were executing, running the half court man and showing on the screens extremely well. We got lazy in the second half and they scored a few points off it. Offensively, our advantage was through the high post to the short corner. We executed it three times and had so many more opportunities. Overall, it was a lack of execution with the primary strategy we had in play. We will have to take a look at it.”

The Troubadours led early in the game as both teams started slowly on the offensive end. The Lady Herd led 15-14 after the first eight minutes but St. Francis went on an 11-0 run to take a 25-15 advantage in the second. The Troubies’ offense then went cold, failing to score in almost eight minutes of time over the second and third quarters.

“That was severe drought,” said Pitton. “We can’t withstand it. We are too good of an offensive team.”

St. Francis (7-7, 2-1) scored just eight points in the third as Elk Grove led 35-33. Janae Fairbrook scored nine of her 12 points in the fourth but the Troubadours fell behind as the Herd hit three triples. After Elk Grove took a 45-41 lead, St. Francis was unable get any offense to close the gap.  

“We were right there and we gambled at the end to give them a couple buckets,” said Pitton. “We have to understand ball and people movement against the zone. We got better at it but we are still not where we need to be.”

Elk Grove’s Mia Shulman led all scorers with 17 points. The Lady Herd improved to 12-3 on the season and 3-0 in league play. It was their second win over SF after winning a matchup in the West Coast Jamboree last month.

St. Francis travels back to Elk Grove to take on Sheldon on Friday and travels to Antelope on Saturday as part of a tripleheader.

EG –Shulman 17, Smith 12, Dempts 10, Hanks 8, McCoy 6, Chelini 1. SF – Fairbrook 12, Razo 12, Austin 5, Bagetelos 4, Nicolos 4, Kelly 4, Koerwitz 3.