Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Fortuna’s Allie Cox in action against Weed at the Panther Classic on Friday night.

The Fortuna girls are finding their feet on the basketball court.

On Friday night the Huskies turned in their best defensive performance of the young season on the way to defeating Weed 55-36 at the Panther Classic in McKinleyville.

The victory was the third in four games for the Fortuna girls, who are now 5-6 on the season and 1-1 at the tournament.

“The team played well,” head coach Tom Chapman said. “We limited our turnovers and made open shots.

“Our defensive rotation was outstanding. The best defensive game we’ve played this season.”

Junior Grace Scilacci led the way offensively with 28 points, while Hayley Youkey added 14 points, including four 3-pointers.

The Huskies will close out tournament play against St. Bernard’s in the third-place game on Saturday at 1 p.m.

The Arcata girls were also in action on Friday night at the Red Bluff tournament.

The Tigers defeated Enterprise 53-34.

McKinleyville 68, Yreka 54

The Panthers improved to 2-0 at their own tournament with a 14-point win over Yreka on Friday night and will play Eureka for the tournament championship on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.

Tatum Fisher led a balanced Mack attack with 20 points, while Trinity Preston finished with 15 points and Kim Lewis had nine.

The win lifts the Panthers to an impressive 8-1 on the season and gives them an opportunity to win their second of three early-season tournaments.

Taly Turner chipped in eight points in the win, while Camryn Pinard had five points.

Fortuna’s Alana Huber in action on Friday night.

Ferndale 54, Upper Lake 38

The Ferndale girls will play for a second tournament championship in eight days on Saturday after beating Upper Lake in the semifinals at the Kelseyville tournament on Friday.

The game was tight until late, when the Cats pulled away for their seventh straight victory and improved to 7-1 on the season.

Kyla Albee finished with her second double-double in tournament play, scoring 18 points and pulling down 10 rebounds, while Reaghan Langer added 12 points, seven rebounds and four steals.

“On offense we were able to penetrate and finish well in the fourth quarter,” said head coach Terra Albee, who added “finally our defense wore them down.”

Carly Carmesin added 11 points, while Clara Albee had six points and four rebounds and Madison Gossi had three points.

Everyone on the team scored in the win.

The McKinleyville girls were clearly in good spirits before their game on Friday night.

Ferndale 65, Kelseyville 14

Langer exploded tor 26 points on Thursday night to lead the Wildcats to a big win over Kelseyville to open the tournament.

Langer also had five rebounds and a couple of steals.

“We played well as a team and got really good looks on offense,” Terra Albee said.

Kyla Albee and Carmesin each also had a big game in the win.

Kyla Albee had a double-double with 13 points and 11 boards, as well as dishing out several assists and coming away with three steals, while Carmesin finished with 16 points and five steals.

Clara Albee also had six points.

Earlier in the week, the Cats got the better of Anderson Valley in a non-tournament game by a score of 55-22.

Carmesin scored a game-high 24 points in that win, outscoring the opposing team, while Langer had 16 points and Tia Henrikson and Clara Albee each finished with six points.