Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – McKinleyville’s Hailee Henry (3) and her teammates have now won five of their last six games.

By Ray Hamill — There’s a fine line between winning and losing sometimes, as the McKinleyville Panthers have shown this season.

On Monday night, the Panthers posted an emphatic 58-39 win at Arcata to qualify for the Dick Niclai tournament, and having won five of their past six games — four against Division-IV opponents — they are now NCS playoff eligible.

All in all, it’s been a good couple of weeks for the Mack girls, whose season appeared to be all but over before their late-season surge.

They opened the season going 1-7 against Big 5 opponents, and have now won three straight against them.

But those seven losses were by average of just six points a game and none of them were double-digit losses.

So the Panthers have been close all season, and now they’ve finally developed the winning habit.

McKinleyville’s Rayn Tripp

The team’s five seniors have all played a major role in the turnaround, as the Panthers have gotten healthy and back on track.

They will now travel to Eureka on Tuesday night for their opening game in the Niclai tournament, and the way they’ve been playing lately no one will want to play them.

For more on the Panthers’ big night, see Mack girls continue remarkable late-season run …