St. Francis rolls past Aurora Christian

It took St. Francis a little while to get started Friday night in Wheaton. Once the Spartans got started, though, Aurora Christian couldn't stop them.

Held scoreless for nearly the first five minutes of the game, St. Francis cruised to a 47-19 girls basketball victory in Suburban Christian Conference play.

"Sometimes we have a tough time starting out with the beginning of a game," said Spartans sophomore Mia Mazza. "We just need to learn to keep the intensity up. All it is is a mental battle as well as physical."

Aurora Christian led 8-2 when the Spartans went on an 11-0 run. They led 15-9 after one quarter, with junior post player Gabby Galbato scoring all of the Eagles' 9 first-quarter points.

St. Francis (12-7, 1-2) cruised from there, outscoring Aurora Christian 16-2 in the second quarter, during which it forced 10 Eagles turnovers. The Eagles (14-7, 1-4) committed 33 turnovers for the game.

"We started out all right," said Eagles coach Burney Wilkie, whose team defeated St. Francis 51-37 on Dec. 1. "We didn't handle the pressure well all night. Our guards kind of folded. Really not much to say. I don't think there's anything we really did well tonight. A disappointing loss going into regional seeding, for sure."

To St. Francis coach Mike Phillips, the Spartans' early problems were simple to fix.

"We weren't working the ball inside at all to begin that game," he said. "We thought that would be a place to exploit them and we didn't really do it the first four or five possessions."

But the Spartans' defense was even more impressive than their offense.

"Our girls are playing really solid defense recently, so they came out and did it again tonight," Phillips said.

Mazza led all scorers with 13 points and grabbed 5 steals. Junior Leah Riccolo came off the St. Francis bench to score 10, adding 6 steals. Many of those steals led to layups or trips to the free-throw line.

"We've been working on a lot of basic fundamentals to break down a defense," Mazza said.

Galbato finished with 10 points for the Eagles.

"I'm excited to see what kind of resolve we have after this," Wilkie said.

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