File photo by Taunya Brunton – St. Bernard’s senior Aliyah Vigil had seven steals against Red Bluff on Saturday night.

The St. Bernard’s girls showed why they are the team to beat in this year’s Little 4 with two more impressive wins on the basketball court on Saturday.

The defending Division-4 state champions closed out an outstanding pre-conference schedule with their fifth and sixth straight wins, defeating Redding Christian 67-29 early in the afternoon, and following that with a 65-33 win at Red Bluff later in the day.

That gave the Crusaders three wins over Northern Section teams in 36 hours, having also defeated Yreka 66-26 on Friday night.

“I am so proud of these ladies for the great preseason,” said head coach Matt Tomlin, whose team will go into conference play next week with an overall record of 14-1 and more wins than any other H-DNL team.

Laila Florvilus led the SB offense at Redding Christian and finished with 16 points, while freshman Carli Baum continued her impressive season with 15 points.

Samantha Sundberg also impressed and added nine points, while CJ Figas and Kayla Maples each had six points and Tally Williams and Sahara Tupua each chipped in five points.

Just a couple of hours later, the SB girls completed the three-game road trip sweep with a victory against Red Bluff.

Florvilus was outstanding once again and finished with a triple-double.

The 2024 CalHiSports Division-IV state player of the year scored 27 points and had 12 rebounds, as well as coming away with a remarkable 11 steals.

Fellow senior Aliyah Vigil also had a big game at both ends of the floor and famished with 12 points and seven steals.

Sundberg added eight points, while Maples had six points and Figas five.

The Crusaders’ impressive pre-conference schedule also included three tournament championships.

They tip off the Little 4 schedule at Ferndale on Thursday night.