File photo – Kaitlin Giacone

The Eureka Loggers settled down after a shaky start against Miramonte at the Pinole Valley Shootout on Friday and ran out to a 49-32 win in girls basketball.

Trailing by eight points after the opening quarter (17-9), the Eureka girls would outscore the Matadors in each of the remaining three quarters and their defense would hold them to just 15 points for the remainder of the game.

“We have a lot of new faces and moving parts,” Eureka head coach Cliff Napoleon said. “It took us a bit to dial in on defense, but once we did we were flying around.”

Returning Big 5 MVP Kaitlin Giacone was key in the win and finished with seven points while also making a big impact defensively.

Giaocne had six steals and multiple deflections to help inspire her teammates. 

“It was great defense all the way around,” Napoleon said.

Jeralyn Miller also played a key role in the win and helped the Loggers pull away in the third quarter with all eight of her points coming in the span of a minute, including back-to-back 3s to put Eureka up by 15.

Teammate Samara Gaither also had a big game and finished with a team-high 13 points.

The Loggers will continue tournament play on Saturday when they take on Acalanes.

Tip off is set for 1:30 p.m.

Eureka is now 2-0 o the young season, having also beaten Hoopa 62-35 earlier in the week.