There was little to separate the McKinleyville and Fortuna girls basketball teams in an early-season all-local battle in the third-place game at the Healdsburg tournament on Saturday evening.

In a back-and-forth game, the Huskies held a narrow one-point lead going into the fourth quarter, before the Panthers rallied to pull out a one-point victory, 39-38

And they can thank their five seniors, each of whom is playing a key role for a team that is now 6-2 and has gone 2-1 in back-to-back tournaments.

“All of five of these seniors have been tremendous leaders in helping our young group adjust to varsity basketball, and it has helped them,” McKinleyville head coach Jacob Cheek said.

Gabby Watson continued to be a force at both ends of the floor and led the Panthers with a game-high 19 points, including 14 of her team’s 23 second-half points.

The standout senior, who made two big-time free throws in the final minute of the game to put her team up by three, was named to the all-tournament team.

“She showed out today,” Cheek said of Watson, who had to overcome a minor injury early in tournament play.

Fellow seniors Tatum Fisher and Sarah McCay both also are coming back from early-season injuries, and each also played key roles at the tournament.

“They made positive contributions throughout the weekend,” Cheek said of the two players.

Fisher finished with nine points in Saturday’s win, having also scored a team-high 13 points in Friday night’s 46-18 loss to Justin-Siena.

Seniors Bailee Box and MaryAnn Som also “played hard all weekend” for the Panthers, Cheek added.

The Huskies gave their conference rivals all they could handle with arguably their best performance of the season.

“The girls played strong for all four quarters,” Fortuna head coach Tom Chapman said. “We played our most complete game of the season.”

The impressive Mariah Bravo scored a team-best 13 points in the loss and was named to the all-tourney team, while teammate Jorlynn Villalvazo added eight points.

Despite the defeat, Chapman likes the way his team is coming together ahead of league play in the new year.

“The team is continuing to make progress and I believe we will continue to get better as a team,” he said after the game. “The girls are committed to playing for each other and tonight it showed against a tough McKinleyville team.”

The Huskies certainly gave the Panthers a challenging matchup, especially in the paint.

“Fortuna was physical and battled, preventing us from getting the ball inside throughout the game,” Cheek said.

“I’m proud of my team this weekend. We had some ups and downs and stepped up to the challenge.”

Cheek also paid tribute to his two assistant coaches, Brady Burtchett and Sam Hooven.

“They’ve been tremendous help and are a big reason we are having early success this season,” he said.

Fortuna is now 6-3.