Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Kim Lewis and the McKinleyville Panthers will play the St. Bernard’s Crusaders on Wednesday night.

By Ray Hamill — The first of four local varsity basketball tournaments scheduled for this week gets under way on Wednesday night, with four H-DNL teams in action.

The McKinleyville girls tournament will run for four days, with six teams competing, including the host school, Eureka, Fortuna and St. Bernard’s.

There will be two games on Wednesday, with Eureka and Fortuna playing at 6 p.m., followed by the Panthers and St. Bernard’s at 7:30 p.m.

Yreka and Weed will join the action on Thursday.

And it should be a competitive few days, with five of the six teams boasting a winning record.

The host Panthers have impressed on their way to a 5-1 record, including winning all three of their games at the Arcata tournament two weeks ago.

Even more impressive, St. Bernard’s is 6-0 after winning back-to-back tournaments at Cloverdale and Mt. Shasta.

And they’e beaten some quality opponents along the way, including a 39-32 win over Del Norte in the Mt. Shasta tournament championship on Saturday.

The Eureka girls, meanwhile, have navigated a challenging start to the season with seven wins in nine games, including a 67-37 win over the host school to place third at the Maria Carrillo tournament on Saturday.

Fortuna, meanwhile, is 3-5 on the season, including a 1-4 mark against H-DNL teams.

The Huskies defeated Kelseyville 53-11 in their most recent game at the Healdsburg tournament on Saturday.

The two out-of-area teams bring an impressive early-season resume to the table.

The Yreka girls are 6-1, including a two-point win over Del Norte at their own tourney two weeks ago, while the Weed Cougars are 5-2, with their only losses coming against St. Bernard’s and Del Norte.

The Eureka and South Fork boys and South Fork girls will each also host tournaments this week.