Photos by Ray Hamill/HumbopldtSports.com – Del Norte’s Lili Nunez in action during Tuesday’s game at Arcata.

By Ray Hamill — Playing five games in nine days has not been a problem for the Eureka girls.

On Tuesday night, they rallied from an early deficit to defeat McKinleyville 54-47 at Eureka for their fifth win in that spell, as they improved to 4-0 in the Big 5 at the halfway stage.

Also on Tuesday, the Del Norte Warriors kept pressure on the league leaders with a 60-56 win at Arcata, while the Crusaders pulled away in the third quarter on the way to beating Fortuna 68-48 at St. Bernard’s.

The high-flying Loggers, who are now 17-4 overall, trailed 15-6 after the opening quarter and looked as if the hectic schedule was catching up with them.

But they settled into the game and led 25-24 at halftime.

Kaitlin Giacone led the Loggers in scoring for the third straight game and finished with 15 points, while Moriah Bowles scored 10 and Amaya Gee finished with eight points.

All four of the team’s league wins have come within the past nine days, along with a 69-38 victory over Hoopa on Monday night.

“Lucky to get out of it 5-0,” Eureka head coach Cliff Napoleon said of the busy spell. “There are no easy victories in the Big 5.”

That was certainly the case on Tuesday, as the Panthers played the league leaders far closer than in a 29-point loss to them in tournament play last month.

“Coach (Jacob) Cheek had his girls prepared for tonight,” Napoleon said. “It was an old fashioned back yard brawl. Back and forth, back and forth. Great game.”

Aniah Gaither, Mariah Napoleon and Claire Maples each finished with seven points in the win.

Camryn Pinard continued to impress for the visitors and finished with a game-high 19 points in the loss, while teammate Kim Lewis scored nine and Neyr-Res Bartoo had eight.

With the loss, the Panthers dropped to 2-2 in the Big 5 and 13-6 overall.

Mariah Napoleon in action for the Loggers on Tuesday.

The Mack girls will try to bounce back on Thursday night when they host the Del Norte Warriors, who narrowly beat them in Crescent City in both teams’ league opener.

Giacone also had 14 points in Monday’s victory over Hoopa, while Gee finished with 13, Maples 10, Bowles eight and Marin Matteoli seven.

The Del Norte girls, meanwhile, barely escaped from Arcata with the win on Tuesday after seeing a double-digit lead turn into a six-point deficit in the second half.

It was an entertaining showdown at Arcata High, with little to separate the teams in the first half.

The Warriors, however, closed out the half stronger, thanks in large part to the industrious Lili Nunez, and they led by eight at the interval.

After seeing the gap stretch to 10 early in the third, the home team battled back to tie things up heading into the fourth and then proceeded to open up a six-point lead.

The Warriors had the final say, however, and responded to a Saturday loss at home to Eureka by finishing the stronger of the two teams and pulling out the four-point victory.

Nunez continued to play at an MVP caliber level and finished with a game-high 24 points, including two big late 3-pointers, one to tie the game and one to give her team the lead.

Brooklyn Carter also had a big impact for the Warriors and finished with 12 points, while Anyessa Bettega scored seven points, including another key late 3.

Gianna Taylor also had seven points, as the Warriors improved to 14-4 overall.

Alia Prentiss led the way offensively for Arcata with 16 points, while Nora Talty finished with 11 points and Leitala Vainuku had eight.

The loss dropped the Tigers to 1-3 in the Big 5, with two of those losses coming by five points or fewer, and they are now 9-9 overall.

The Arcata girls will try to get back to winning ways at Fortuna on Thursday.

At St. Bernard’s, meanwhile, the Crusaders outscored the Huskies 27-7 in the third quarter to break open a tight game.

Laila Florvilus scored a game-high 24 points in the win, as the Crusaders improved to 15-2 on the season and 5-1 against Big 5 opponents.

It was also their fourth straight win, as they get set for a huge Little 4 showdown against Ferndale on Thursday.

Madelyn Shanahan added 20 points in the win, while Mataya Sherman finished with five points.

Malessa Miles and Kylee Fennell each scored a team-best 11 points for the Huskies, while Grace Scilacci added eight points.

The Huskies are now 7-13 and will host Arcata in the Big 5 on Thursday.