SACRAMENTO, Calif. – St. Francis advanced to the CIF State Championship Nor Cal regional semifinals with a 81-36 win over Lincoln of San Francisco in a Division 1 second round game Saturday.

“I thought we came out with a lot of energy,” said Head Coach Vic Pitton. “I was little concerned because we had not played for a week and that is unusual. It went away quickly. I told Janae to look for her shot and she did. She got us started off.”

Junior Janae Fairbrook scored 11 points in the first quarter as part of team-high tying 17 points including three triples over the first eight minutes. She hit five on the night after adding two in the second half.

“I am so happy right now,” said senior Kyra Huffman, who scored 11 points. “We told Janae she can shoot the three. She is such an amazing shooter and I have never played with anyone who has the range she does. Our plan was to see if we could get her a couple threes and see how well we can do.”

St. Francis (27-5) jumped out to a 15-0 lead in the game as part of a 30-point first quarter. Senior guard Tia Hay scored eight of her 17 points in the period and Lauren Craig added nine.

“It was important to get a good start because it gets us going,” said Hay. “We get in their heads. Once we have a good start, we keep the ball rolling. It makes us feel more confident and we play well together.”

Lincoln (26-7) had their best quarter in the second, scoring 12 points but still trailed 46-19 at the break. Hay led the team with seven points in the third quarter, finishing with 17 points, six assists and seven steals.

The Troubadours extended the lead to 40 points in the fourth, initiating a running clock for the final minutes.

“We have been getting a lot more people coming to the games and the crowd gives us more energy,” said Hay, whose team is 11-1 at home this season. “It is good to have home court advantage.”

St. Francis will play the winner of the Heritage-Menlo Atherton game at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at St. Francis.

“It is going to be a tough team but we are going to have our home court which is always an advantage,” said Pitton. “We just have to keep playing our style of basketball.”

Lauren Craig finished with 17 points and eight boards. Marlee Nicolos and Jackie Koerwitz each added five points in the win.

CIF Nor Cal State Playoffs

SF – Hay 17, Fairbrook 17, Craig 17, Huffman 11, Nicolos 5, Koerwitz 5, Razo 4, Ortiz 2. L – Andrews 7, Castillian 6, Tam 6, Joyner 4, Tang 3, Bui 3, Tam 3, Wong 2, Wu 2.