Photos by Taunya Brunton – The St. Bernard’s girls in action at this week’s Mt. Shasta tournament.

The Eureka girls overcame some adversity this weekend on their way to another tournament championship.

On Saturday afternoon, they trailed by six points in the fourth quarter of the championship game, but rallied late to beat Miramonte 50-47.

The tournament win follows last weekend’s successful trip to the Gridley Classic and the Loggers haven now won six straight games as they improved to 8-1.

“We played great defense in the second half, limiting our mistakes, and pulled out a great win,” Eureka head coach Cliff Napoleon said. 

No one played a bigger role than standout sophomore Tiara Maualuga, who was named tournament MVP for the second straight week.

Maualuga and teammate Samara Gaither each scored 18 points in Saturday’s win.

Gaither was also named to the all-tournament team.

The red-hot Loggers also defeated Branson (52-38) and Encinal (68-33) in earlier tournament action.

“This weekend we had two games where we had to battle through some adversity,” Napoleon said. “We grew as a team and are starting to believe in one another. It’s fun to watch.”

Submitted photos

Eureka’s Samara Gaither, left, and Tiara Maualuga

St. Bernard’s 69, Pyramid Lake 54

The Crusaders faced their first biggest test of the early season and came through with flying colors on their way to winning the Mt. Shasta tournament.

Trailing 13-2 early against the defending Nevada state champions, the Crusaders began to take control and never looked back.

“We came back and beat a very good team,” SB head coach Matt Tomlin said.

The tournament championship is the second straight for the St. Bernard’s girls, who also placed first at last week’s Cloverdale tournament.

Senior Laila Florvilus was instrumental in the win once again and was named tournament MVP for the second straight week.

She finished a dominating individual performance with 29 points, eight rebounds, five steals and four assists.

“Laila Florvilus had another amazing game and received great support from her teammates,” Tomlin said. 

Submitted photo – The St. Bernard’s girls

Photo by Taunya Brunton – St. Bernard’s Aliyah Vigil in action at the Mt. Shasta tournament.

Impressive freshman Carli Baum added six points, six rebounds and five steals to cap three big days at the tournament and was also named to the all-tournament team, while fellow freshman Tally Williams had seven points and seven rebounds.

Baum, according to Tomlin, “has made us a lot better team as she is a tremendous point guard and handled the ball against Pyramid Lake’s constant pressure defense,” while Williams came off the bench and “had a monster game providing toughness and rebounding.”

Samantha Sundberg also impressed and finished with nine points, while Aliyah Vigil and Jocelyn Sundberg each added seven points to round out a very good all-around team performance.

The Sundberg sisters combined to hit three big second-half 3-pointers, while Vigil continued to lead the team with her outstanding defense.

“I am so proud of these ladies,” the head coach added. “This was a very good team we beat today.”

Del Norte 49, West Valley 27

The Warriors closed out an impressive three days at the Harlan Carter tournament with their second straight win on Saturday.

With the victory, the Del Norte girls improved to 5-3.

Brooklyn Carter and Tsinte Steinruck were both named to the all-tournament team for Del Norte after a big few days for each of them.

“There girls really came together and started to gel this weekend,” Del Norte head coach Dylan Nelson said. 

Carter scored a team-high 20 points in Saturdays; win, while Jaylee Keeling added 15 points and Bliss Blackburn chipped in five.

Steinruck had at least 15 rebounds in all three tournament games.

“We shot the ball well and handled the press,” the coach added. “(We had) contributions from the entire roster.”

Photos by Taunya Brunton