Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Action from Tuesday’s game between the Huskies and Tigers at Arcata High.

By Ray Hamill — The Del Norte Warriors and Arcata Tigers got the Big 5 off to a winning start in girls basketball on Tuesday night, with home victories for each.

The Warriors got a key win over McKinleyville by a score of 52-47, while Arcata comfortably took care of business against Fortuna, winning 59-33.

The Eureka Loggers were also in action on Tuesday, defeating South Fork 61-10 in a non-league showdown before they travel to Crescent City to open their league campaign on Thursday night.

The Del Norte girls improved to 12-3 with their victory, overcoming what head coach Justin Clifton described as a sluggish performance.

“It was an ugly win, but we’ll take it,” Clifton said. “We just played alright. We had trouble getting going, but we made some free throws down the stretch, we made some 3s down the stretch, but we can definitely play better.”

They will likely have to on Thursday night against a Loggers team that most observers feel are the league favorites.

Tuesday’s win, however, was a big one against a Panthers team that is the second-highest ranked H-DNL program in the North Coast Section, according to MaxPreps, trailing only Eureka.

Junior Lily Nunez paced the Del Norte offense with a game-high 18 points, while influential sophomores Brooklyn Carter and Lauren Stutes each also played a key role.

Carter finished with 13 points, while Stutes had 19 rebounds and was “an absolute beast,” according to Clifton.

Anyessa Bettega added 12 points in the win, while both Stutes and Jacalyn Gorbet each chipped in four points.

Despite their sluggish start, the Warriors led by seven at halftime, but the Panthers clawed their way back to cut the deficit to just three going into the final quarter.

Gabby Watson scored a team-high 12 points for the Panthers, while Tatum Fisher finished with 11 points, Morgan Stubbs nine points and Camryn Pinard eight.

The Del Norte JVs and freshmen teams also won to give the hosts a sweep.

With the victory, the Del Norte varsity team is now 12-3 on the season and 1-0 in the Big 5, while the Panthers dropped to 11-4 and 0-1.

The Panthers will try to bounce back when they travel to Fortuna on Thursday.

Arcata 59, Fortuna 33

After dropping three straight games at the West Coast Jamboree last week, the Arcata girls responded well on Tuesday with a dominating performance to open the Big 5.

The Tigers came out strong and quickly took control of the game, leading 15-7 after the opening quarter and stretching the advantage to 26 by halftime.

Nora Talty continued to play well for the home team and finished with a game-high 20 points, while both Leitala Vainuku and Raymi Sharp each added 13 points.

“I was really pleased,” head coach Doug Oliveira said. “I didn’t really know how we were going to respond after getting beat three times last week. I was really pleased.”

The Tigers came out with some intensity and made a statement early in the game, particularly on the defensive side of the ball.

Sharp, who played at Eureka last year, has impressed since clearing the transfer protocol four games ago, while Vainuku has quickly established herself as a key player on the team in just her sophomore season.

Kyndle Eisner added six points in the win, while Caroline Dieker chipped in four points and Lily Rust-Kelley three.

With the win, the Arcata girls improved to 9-5 overall and 1-0 in league play.

The Huskies were led by the ever-consistent Grace Scilacci, who scored a team-high eight points.

Sabrina Aguilar Arce added six points, while Allie Cox finished with five.

With the loss, the Huskies are now 7-9 and 0-1.

The Fortuna girls will try to bounce back when they host McKinleyville on Thursday night, while the Tigers will have a bye in league play on Thursday and will host St. Bernard’s on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m.

The Arcata JVs also won by a score of 56-42.

Eureka 61, South Fork 10

The Loggers improved to 12-4 with a non-league win over visiting South Fork on Tuesday night.

Moriah Bowles had a good night shooting and scored a game-high 22 points in the win, while teammate Claire Maples finished with 10 points and Kaitlin Giacone had nine.

Macy Yarbrough scored a team-high eight points for the Cubs, who dropped to 3-6 on the season.

Mariah Napoleon also had eight points for Eureka and Amaya Gee finished with seven.