SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Christian Brothers outlasted a hard-fought effort by St. Francis in overtime 54-46 to record the victory in the annual Holy Hoops matchup in front of a packed gym Saturday night.

St. Francis and Christian Brothers battled all night. The Troubadours took the early advantage with a 9-0 to start the game and led 13-6 after the first eight minutes.

“The start was key but then we hit a long cold spell and allowed them get a fairly good lead before coming back at the half,” said Head Coach Vic Pitton.

The Falcons came back in the second quarter to out-score the Trobadours 17-7. St. Francis closed the gap at the half to go into the locker room down three 23-20.

Senior Abby Dow helped the Troubies keep in the game down to the wire, scoring all 10 of her points in the second half.

“I challenged her at halftime and she came out and met the challenge,” said Pitton. “I am proud of the performance Abby put forth in the second half. That is what she is capable of doing.”

Dow scored a team-best six points in the third and four in the final period with six boards.

“It did not have my best first half so I really wanted to come out strong,” said Dow. “It is my last game against CB. We played really well as a team to get back in the game in the second half.”

The teams exchanged the lead over the final eight minutes. Junior Susie Rogers, the second-leading scorer on the team, left the game with an injury.

With the game tied at 46, the Falcons had possession and missed a shot with 23 seconds left that resulted in a jump ball. With the arrow, Christian Brothers (6-9) had a final chance at the buzzer that was off the mark, forcing overtime.

“We played a really solid second half and had a few calls go against us that really hurt,” said Pitton. “Of course having Susie in foul trouble and then out with the injury was difficult.”

The Troubadours’ leading scorer Lauren Craig then fouled out in the overtime and the Troubadours failed to make a basket in the extra period as the Falcons prevailed.

“I see improvement,” said Pitton. “Again I thought we were more composed. There are still a lot of areas we need to work on. Considering where we have come from to now, we have made great strides.”

Craig finished with 10 points and 17 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the season. Danika Bailey had seven points, four assists and four steals.

“I think we kinda lost steam with Susie and Lauren out,” said Dow. “It was still a really good effort with contributions from Isabel (Soloaga), Raven (Robinson) and Kyra (Huffman) on the floor.”

St. Francis finishes a busy week with a 3-1 record, dropping to 9-6 on the season. They return home Ponderosa on Tuesday for games starting at 4 p.m.
“I am really proud of our team,” said Dow. “We are improving which is really good.”

The St. Francis freshmen opened the day with a 44-38 victory over Christian Brothers. Clare Brennan led the team with 10 points and 20 rebounds. The JV team lost a tight game in the middle game 50-43. Janae Fairbrook led the team with 12 points.

CHRISTIAN BROTHERS 54, St. FRANCIS 46
 

SF – Dow 10, Craig 10, Bailley 7, Huffman 5, Lau 4, Robinson 4, Rogers 4, Soloaga 2. CB – Hart 15, Earley 14, Overstreet 12, Ramirez 6, Mark 6, Carmazzi 1.