Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Action from Saturday night’s game at St. Bernard’s.

By Ray Hamill — The St. Bernard’s girls blew open a tight game with a dominating fourth quarter on their way to beating crosstown rival Eureka 51-46 in non-conference basketball on Saturday night.

In a matchup of two of the best teams in the H-DNL this season, the host Crusaders trailed by four at halftime, but battled back to pull within one point after three quarters.

Keyed by big performances from several players, including senior Laila Florvilus and freshman Carli Baum, they began the fourth quarter on a 16-0 run, holding the visitors without a point for the opening four minutes of the period

And after that there was no way back for the Big 5 school, despite a spirited late rally.

Florvilus and Baum each scored six points in the fourth quarter to help put the game away, but more than that it was the manner in which the SB girls battled at both ends of the floor that really won the game.

Sophomore Samantha Sundberg also was outstanding in the victory and scored a game-high 18 points, including three 3-pointers.

The clutch performances from the underclassmen suggests the Crusaders will be handful for any opposing team for the foreseeable future.

“Freshman Carli Baum was absolutely electric tonight,” St. Bernard’s head coach Matt Tomlin said of the first-year varsity player, who finished with 13 points and brought the home fans to their feet with her hustle and play in the final period. “And sophomore Samantha made some big-time shots to lead us to victory. The underclassmen played big-time basketball.”

The seniors also played key roles, in particular Florvilus, Aliyah Vigil and Jocelyn Sundberg.

Florvilus was double-teamed for much of the game and still finished with 14 points, while Vigil added six points and made a couple of huge baskets during the decisive 16-0 run.

Check out some fourth-quarter St. Bernard’s highlights below, including some big plays by freshman Carli Baum …

“Aliyah Vigil had two big shots and I thought Laila Florvilus played a solid game despite seeing double teams running at her all night,” said Tomlin, who added “I want to give a shout out to Jocelyn Sundberg. The senior forward was amazing tonight.

“She played outstanding defense on their talented center, she got big rebounds, and she always does the little things that help a team win. We are so lucky to have Jocelyn, a senior leader, on our team.”

The loss ended a 10-game winning streak for the Loggers, who came into the game as the No. 6 ranked team in the entire North Coast Section, according to MaxPreps, eight spots ahead of No. 14 St. Bernard’s.

Senior Samara Gaither scored a team-high 12 points for the Loggers, while junior teammate Nashaya Williams finished with 11 points, as did sophomore Olivianna Millender.

The loss was just the second of the season for the Eureka girls, who dropped to 12-2.

“Eureka has great players and a fantastic coaching staff,” Tomlin said. “It is always an honor to play them and the ladies on both teams play so hard and put on an amazing show for the fans.

“We feel very fortunate to come away with the victory.”

Tiara Maualuga added seven points for Eureka.

This was the second straight year the Crusaders won a regular-season matchup against their crosstown rivals and the win avenged a narrow loss to the Loggers in last year’s Dick Niclai tournament championship.

And judging by Saturday’s performance, the Crusaders have every reason to believe they could do it again if these two schools meet somewhere along the way in this year’s Niclai tournament next month.

The win was the seventh straight for the high-flying SB girls who improved to 16-1 on the season.

It was also the first home game for the Crusaders since winning the Division-4 state championship last March and it was played in front of a packed and enthusiastic crowd.

The SB boys also won their matchup against Eureka later in the night by a score of 62-51.

We’ll have a full report on the boys game early next week.