SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The St. Francis basketball team opened the 2016-17 season with a 69-40 victory over Kennedy in the home opener for the team.

“The young players are starting to learn what to takes to play at the varsity level,” said Head Coach Vic Pitton.

Senior Janae Fairbrook led all scorers with 16 points, while sophomore Nika Bagatelos had 12 and Logan Kelly contributed a double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds.

“It is great to start the season off with a win,” said Kelly. “We all worked together as a team and helped each other out.”

St. Francis jumped out to a 20-5 lead after the first quarter, starting the game on a 14-0 run. Fairbrook connected on three triples, totaling eight points in the quarter. They added four threes in the second including two by Bagatelos, who had four on the night.

“I just kept shooting,” said Bagatelos. “It felt good to get it started on defense with a lot of effort and then the threes started to fall.”

Seven different players scored in the third quarter as the Troubies extended the lead to 54-31. St. Francis will play in the Roseville Elite Showcase this weekend starting on Thursday. St. Francis opens with Immanuel from Reedley, Calif., at 3:30 p.m.

“It is going to allow others to step up because we have two of our starters out,” said Pitton. “We have to look at the big picture and down the road this is going to play huge dividends getting this experience in a big tournament.”

The freshman defeated Kennedy 55-8 behind 15 points by Ali McDaniel, while the JV team won 69-28 behind 17 by Nikki Morissette.

SF – Fairbrook 16, Bagatelos 12, Kelly 10, Austin 8, Nicolos 7, Pank 6, Keitges 5, Montemayor 3, Gage 2. K – Onodera 9, Lauderdale 8, Patterson 6, Yep 5, Boykins 5, Thomas 3, Ememoto 2, Tanaka 2.