St Francis de Sales powers past Ag Science

It’s safe to say that the past two years have been the most successful in St. Francis de Sales girls basketball history. That success continued Thursday evening as the Pioneers became the first ever girls basketball team in school history to win back-to back regional titles with their 47-36 win over Ag. Science in the Class 2A U-High Regional.

“It’s a really cool feeling to have that happen to this team,” said Tasia Harris. “I didn’t know that that hadn’t happened before and we’re young so that makes it all the better.”

It was behind the shooting of Harris that the Pioneers (16-10) were able to overcome a quick Cyclone lead. The sophomore guard scored nine of her team’s 22 first-half points. The two evenly-matched teams each made runs and neither team led by more than six points in the half.

“It’s hard to beat the man-to-man,” said Ag. Science’s Allison Nash. “We don’t have too many ballhandlers and if they get into trouble we get flustered and can’t beat it. It’s something we have to work on and can get better at though.”

St. Francis de Sales’ pressure defense seemed to rattle Ag. Science in the second half. The Pioneers allowed only three field goals in the quarter, but held the Cyclones without a field goal for the first 5:35 of the period.

“We were ready to win tonight,” said Harris. “We played defense, played smart, believed in our teammates and got it done. We can’t relax though. Have to get back at it.

The pressure continued to get to Ag. Science in the fourth quarter, as St. Francis de Sales held the Cyclones without a field goal for the first four minutes of the quarter. In the meantime, the Pioneers continued to solidify their lead, getting it up to as high as 12, 42-30.

Harris had a team-high 10 points for St. Francis de Sales and Tyler Brown-Henderson added nine more. Kate Patnett scored a game-high 12 points for the Cyclones (17-7), while Nash added 10 points.

“We had a good season and always seemed to be the underdogs,” said Patnett. “We knew that people looked at us thinking we were a pushover. We surprised people and think we can next year as well.”