File photo – St. Bernard’s Jocelyn Sundberg

Strong defense paved the way for the St. Bernard’s girls on Wednesday night, as the Crusaders traveled to Crescent City and came away with a 45-36 non-league win over Del Norte in girls basketball.

The win avenged an earlier defeat to the Warriors in tournament play last month and was their third straight and seventh in eight games.

With the victory, the Crusaders improved to 12-2 on the season.

“I was very proud of our team defense tonight and our toughness rebounding,” SB head coach Matt Tomlin said. “The girls played great team basketball.”

Laila Florvilus continued to shine for the visitors and finished with a team-high 17 points, while teammate Madelyn Shanahan was equally effective and added 10 points.

Samantha Sundberg chipped in seven points for St. Bernard’s, while Ella Hart and Jocelyn Sundberg each finished with three points.

Tsinte Steinruck led the Warriors with 12 points while teammate Breann Winingham finished with seven points.

The loss was the third in four games for the Warriors, who are playing with injured leading scorer Brooklyn Carter and dropped to 13-5.

The game was the second in two days for the Warriors, who beat Hoopa on Tuesday, and head coach Dylan Nelson described it as a tough game.

“Back-to-back night got us,” Nelson said. “We missed a lot of shots. St. Bernard’s played well. Their size and activity bothered us.”

Lauren Stutes added six points in the loss, while Bliss Blackburn chipped in four points.

Both teams will return to conference play on Friday night.

The Crusaders, who are 1-0 in the Little 4, will play at Hoopa, while the Warriors, who are 0-2 in the Big 5, will try to bounce back at Fortuna.

File photo