St. Francis Girls Keep Title Hopes Alive With Win

The St. Francis Lady Knights had 25 wins going into the second round of the state playoffs for single A girls basketball, and they weren't about to let Tuesday night's game against the Darlington Lady Tigers stop them.

Darlington had all the momentum in the world coming into the second round of the state tournament, having won 15 games in a row.

However, they ran into a team in St. Francis that has been just as impressive in the past few months, excluding three losses to No. 1 Wesleyan.

The Lady Tigers hung in as long as they could, but in the end they fell 63-44 to end their season.

Darlington (25-5) jumped out quickly to a 5-0 lead but St. Francis (25-3) responded with a 7-0 run. The Lady Tigers wouldn’t lead again.

Junior Keyona Hayes had a huge night for St. Francis with 23 with 17 rebounds. Keyona has had five straight double double games. Sophomore China Henderson had 12 points 4 rebounds and three assists. Freshman Jade Davis added 11 points 4 rebounds and 4 assists, and Senior Sasha Robinson added 9 points and 7 rebounds.

The Knights now face the Lady Knights of Pace for the third time this year in the Elite 8 at Marietta High School on Saturday, March 5 at 7 p.m. The Lady Knights of St. Francis have defeated Pace the other two times they have faced them this season including the last matchup in the semi-finals of the Region tournament 67-58.

Game story and boxscore courtesy of Cabral Huff, head coach of the boy's varsity basketball team and head track coach, English and Composition teacher at St. Francis High.