Freshmen Isabella Riddle and Brianna Mendez shine in spotlight for Francis Parker girls basketball team, which earns Coastal League title with win at La Jolla Country Day

LA JOLLA – It didn’t matter to the Francis Parker School girls basketball team that it had never previously won at La Jolla Country Day.

It didn’t concern the visiting Lancers that they needed to rely on a lineup of all underclassmen, including a trio of freshmen during several moments.

And Francis Parker’s confidence never wavered Friday in a matchup to decide the Coastal League title, despite two potential starters and three athletes overall being sidelined with injuries for the regular-season finale.

Post-game interviews

The Lancers continued to demonstrate composure and cohesiveness in the biggest moments, with forward Isabella Riddle contributing 24 points and 13 rebounds – both game-high efforts – and fellow ninth-grader Brianna Mendez adding 11 points and seven rebounds to help Francis Parker secure a 51-42 victory and the outright league championship.

Francis Parker (18-8, 6-0) swept the season series for the first time against La Jolla Country Day (16-10, 4-2) after halting a 30-game losing streak Jan. 28 against the Torreys with a 46-45 triumph in the school’s new gymnasium.

The Lancers secured their first league crown since capturing the Pacific title in 2017, with La Jolla Country Day suffering a pair of Coastal losses in the same season for the first time in a decade.

Francis Parker girls basketball | Photo courtesy of Francis Parker

Francis Parker also placed itself in contention for the top seed – along with North County-Palomar League co-champions Mission Hills (20-8) and Westview (19-8) – when the CIF-San Diego Section Open Division playoff bracket is released Saturday.

Mission Hills, which concluded the regular season Friday with a victory against Fallbrook, produced a 65-61 win Dec. 13 against Francis Parker.

Westview, which created a share of the North County-Palomar title Friday by defeating Rancho Bernardo, didn’t face Francis Parker or La Jolla Country Day during the regular season and split with Mission Hills.

Mission Hills prevailed against La Jolla Country Day in last year’s Open Division championship game, with Francis Parker winning the first section crown in program history by defeating Victory Christian Academy in the Division 2 final.

Although juniors Kaitlyn Raagas and Kaia Desmond, along with sophomore Brieana Brown – members of last year’s championship team – were all sidelined Friday for Francis Parker, the rest of the Lancers’ roster rose to the occasion, especially Riddle with her physical interior presence.

La Jolla Country Day attempted to minimize Riddle’s impact by not only rotating defensive assignments, but using different strategies as well, all to no avail, as the 6-foot-2 forward produced 12 points in each half. 

Mendez and Riddle combined for 28 points in the first meeting against the Torreys, but they stepped up to accumulate 35 points in the rematch, including all 10 for the Lancers in the fourth quarter.

Francis Parker scored 14 unanswered points during a two-minute stretch of the opening quarter and started the second half with 11 consecutive points in the first three minutes after the Torreys cut the deficit to 25-24 at the break.

But the most significant run for the Lancers came following back-to-back 3-pointers by La Jolla Country Day point guard Safiyah Sugapong to pull the Torreys within 41-38 with 4:45 remaining.

Mendez responded with a 3-point field goal with four minutes left and Riddle added a layup and a free throw less than 60 seconds apart to extend the Francis Parker lead to a nine-point advantage and La Jolla was unable to respond down the stretch.

Gigi Ong, a sophomore point guard, had eight points, four assists and three steals for the Lancers, who also received consecutive 3-pointers from junior Riya Khushu and sophomore Audrey Owens during the 11-point run to open the third quarter.

Mahlia Washington and Sugapong both scored 11 points apiece for the Torreys, with fellow junior Atlanta Bass-Sulpizio adding five points before fouling out with less than three minutes left.

Mei-Ling Perry, a Princeton-bound junior who scored 20 points in the first matchup with Francis Parker, was limited to six points Friday, including only one field goal in each half for La Jolla Country Day.

Erin Sicari, the lone senior in the Torreys’ lineup, scored four points in her final regular-season home game.