Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Isis Poteet lines up a free throw during Wednesday night’s tournament opener.

By Ray Hamill — Four local teams tipped off the McKinleyville tournament on Wednesday night, with big wins for the Eureka Loggers and the McKinleyville Panthers.

The Loggers got the better of the Fortuna Huskies 66-31 in the night’s opening game, with the Panthers then defeating the St. Bernard’s Crusaders by a score of 44-33.

Isis Poteet scored a game-high 16 points to lead another balanced performance by a deep Eureka roster.

With the win, the Loggers improved to 8-2 on the season.

Kaitlin Giacone also continues to impress and finished with 15 points in the win, while Mariah Napoleon added 13 points and Aniah Gaither chipped in 10.

Grace Scilacci also continued to impress for Fortuna despite the loss and scored a team-high 15 points, while teammate Malessa Miles added eight points.

With the loss, the Huskies are now 4-6.

The win was the fifth in six games for the Eureka girls.

The Panthers, meanwhile, have been one of the stories of the early season locally.

They improved to 7-1 on the season with Wednesday’s win, which came one day after they knocked off Ukiah 53-51 and avenged an earlier defeat to the Wildcats.

“We played pretty good,” McKinleyville head coach Jacob Cheek said after Wednesday’s win. “We moved the ball pretty well. We could have finished better, but I was proud of them. St. Bernard’s is a good team and Matt Tomlin is a good coach.”

No final stats were immediately available for McKinleyville.

The loss was the first of the season for the Crusaders, who dropped to 6-1.

St. Bernard’s was led by senior captain Mataya Sherman, who scored 10 points and provided “some great toughness,” according to Tomlin.

Madelyn Shanahan also continued to play well and finished with a team-high 13 points.

Eureka’s Amaya Gee

Fortuna’s Eunice Casas

“I want to compliment Mack and coach Cheek in a great game,” Tomlin said.

Standout sophomore Laila Florvilus, who has been outstanding early in the season for the Crusaders, was forced from the game with an early injury and the SB girls struggled to generate offense without her.

“We will learn from this game,” Tomlin said, adding that “I also want to compliment the officials for a great game. They had a great night.”

Tuesday’s win over the Ukiah girls. who won this past weekend’s Healdsburg tournament, was a particularly impressive early-season victory for the Panthers.

The Mack girls came into the showdown eager to show they could play with the larger school after falling to the Wildcats 62-51 at the Healdsburg tournament.

“The girls wanted to bounce back against that team,” Cheek said. “And they were really happy with that.”

The Panthers continue to get big contributions from several different players.

“Everyone chips in,” Cheek said. “It’s kind of amazing to watch.”

The McKinleyville girls were all smile before their tournament opener.

The St. Bernard’s players and coaches look on during the first game on Wednesday night.

The four-day McKinleyville tournament continues with two more games on Thursday.

St. Bernard’s plays Yreka at 6 p.m., followed by Eureka and Weed at 7:30 p.m.

Fortuna plays Weed on Friday at 6 p.m., followed by McKinleyville and Yreka at 7:30 p.m.