The Eureka Loggers honored a senior class that will be remembered as one of the most successful in school history before Thursday night’s regular season finale against McKinleyville.

And they followed that with a 50-20 win over the Panthers to secure a perfect run through the Big 5 with eight wins in eight games.

The team’s three seniors — Kaitlin Giacone, Isis Poteet and Maia Hales — all played a pivotal role in the championship, which was the program’s third straight.

And they’re not done yet.

This is a team with bigger ambitions than just winning the Big 5, and next week they’ll compete for a fourth straight Dick Niclai tournament championship, which would be a remarkable achievement for this group of seniors, considering Eureka won just one Niclai title in the previous 25 years.

Giacone led the way in Thursday’s win and finished with a game-high 19 points, while Poteet added seven points and had a big night on the boards, finishing with 12 rebounds.

But it was far from easy for the Loggers, who held just a slender five-point lead (22-17) at halftime as McKinleyville head coach Jacob Cheek had his players ready to go.

“I was so impressed with what coach Cheek had drawn up against us tonight,” Eureka head coach Cliff Napoleon said. “He had his girls ready to play. They were tough and scrappy in there.”

However, the conference champs would make the necessary adjustments at halftime and they were able to pull away after the interval.

Afterwards Napoleon paid tribute to a fellow coach and friend, Jason Francis, the Pacific Union eighth grade coach.

“I remember what a great coach/friend once told me,” Napoleon added. “‘Don’t change an entire defense, just make little adjustments, tweaks.’ … Luckily it worked out in our favor.”

The players responded, as they have in so many games this season.

“Needless to say, the girls executed phenomenally and we pulled away in the second half,” Napoleon said.

Samara Gaither and Jeralyn Miller each added six points in the win, which was the Loggers’ 20th of the year as they improved to 20-4.

As Big 5 champions, the Eureka girls receive the No. 1 seed for next week’s tournament and they will have an opening-round bye before playing either Hoopa or Ferndale in Wednesday’s semifinals.

After that, the Loggers will advance to the North Coast Section playoffs, where they are guaranteed a home game.

Eureka is ranked No. 2 in NCS Division 3, behind No. 1 Cardinal Newman, and should receive a very high seed in their bracket.

With the loss, the McKinleyville girls finished conference play 4-4 and 15-9 overall.

They receive the No. 3 seed for the Niclai tournament and will open at No. 2 Arcata on Monday evening.

File photo – Isis Poteet