Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Kaitlin Giacone in action for Eureka on Friday night.

By Ray Hamill — The Eureka girls were tested in Friday night’s North Coast Section Division-3 basketball quarterfinals but they held on late for a 46-42 win over Pinole Valley at Eureka High.

The Loggers led wire to wire but saw a 13-point lead cut to two late in the game thanks to some pinpoint 3-point shooting by the Spartans, almost all of them coming with the shot clock winding down.

However, with their championship hopes on the line, the Eureka girls dug deep and held on for the victory with some outstanding defense.

“We played well,” Eureka head coach Cliff Napoleon said. “Pinole, they were just lights out tonight.”

The Loggers enjoyed balanced scoring with four different players finishing with eight or more points, and every time their opponents threatened to pull level the Eureka players responded with a clutch basket of their own.

The Spartans made four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to key the late rally, but the Loggers replied with three of their own, including two by impressive freshman Oliviana Millender, who made a welcome return to the lineup after missing last week’s Dick Niclai tournament final with an injury.

“It was nice we held the lead the entire game, and the girls kept answering their 3s,” Napoleon said. “It was a good back-and-forth, back-and-forth game for the entire second half, and our girls stayed strong. They were resilient.”

The Loggers held a 10-point lead at halftime and appeared to headed to a comfortable win after starting the second half the stronger of the two teams.

However, the Spartans would go on a 10-0 run and pulled within two points just two minutes into the fourth quarter.

But a determined home team did enough to keep their opponents at bay down the stretch and held on to advance to next week’s semifinals.

The No. 3 seeded Loggers will play for a place in this year’s section championship game when they travel to No. 2 Maria Carrillo on Tuesday.

Maria Carrillo defeated No. 10 Alhambra 67-28 on Friday.

Senior Isis Poteet continued to impress for the Loggers and finished with a team-high 10 points in Friday’s win, as well as being a force on the boards, as usual, while freshman teammate Tiara Maualuga added nine points and Mallorie Beauchamp and Millender each had eight points.

“Everybody that came in played well,” Napoleon said. “They all played at that high intensity level.

“It was a team effort for sure. They all played great defensively.

“(Pinole’s) 3s, they were all contested and three or four of them came with the shot clock winding down.”

Kaitlin Giacone added six points for the Loggers, who improved to 23-4, and the senior standout was once again hugely influential, while the always-dangerous Samara Gaither added five points.