KENTFIELD, CA – The St. Francis girls basketball team got off to a slow start in Wednesday’s non-conference game with Marin Catholic. Then Paige Uyehara and Lydia Foust had an explosive second quarter and engineered the Lancers to a 63-41 win over the host Wildcats.
Foust scored a game-high 22 points, all off the bench after not registering a single point in the first. Uyehara had 17 points, five assists, and five steals. The junior point guard scored all nine points of a 9-0 run to open the second quarter and had 13 for the period.
The burst overcame a 10-5 first quarter deficit and the Lancers never relinquished the lead after that. Emma Cheli scored half of her 14 points in the third, aiding in an 11-0 run to help keep the Wildcats at bay, and Foust netted 12 in the fourth to put the game out of reach.
Sydney Politzer paced Marin Catholic with 11 points, and Brooke Giralou added 10 points and six rebounds.
St. Francis (7-0) remained undefeated under first-year coach Sami Polisso. The Lancers began the season with a trio of wins at the KSG Mills Tournament, and most recently topped Menlo-Atherton at the Elite Showcase at Laney College.
Uyehara and Foust entered the game as the top two scorers, at 12.2 and 11.5 points per game, respectively. The duo combined for 20 points, four rebounds, four steals, and an assist in the second.
“The other players don’t get aggressive until those two do,” Polisso said. “They become attackers, my whole team attacks.”
Marin Catholic (5-2) ended a four-game winning streak. The Wildcats played without leading scorer Miranda Jacobsen, and her 12.5 points per game, due to injury. Politzer is notching 11.3 points and a team-high 7.8 rebounds per contest.
“They were aggressive and they made us pay for all our mistakes,” Marin Catholic coach Ashley Saia commented. “We left kids open. On the other end of the floor we couldn’t quite get the ball inside like we like to.”
The Lancers were almost perfect from the line, converting their first 14 attempts before missing one in the waning minutes.
Polisso, who previously coached at Los Gatos, knows she has big shoes to fill. Brian Harrigan won over 100 games in his six-year stint at St. Francis, which followed a successful turn at Sacred Heart Cathedral.
“The tradition and the success that he had set the tone for us,” Polisso said of Harrigan. “He established such a great culture and tradition. Following his lead, they were ready to go. We’re enjoying the success we’ve had so far.”
Saia is also in her first year and is only two years removed from another coaching legend, Rick DeMartini.
“We’re moving the ball really well, and focusing on connecting,” she said of this year’s team. “Our defense is getting better. We’re seeing progress every day.”