File photo – The McKinleyville Panthers

Big 5 rivals Fortuna and McKinleyville both won tightly-contested non-conference girls basketball games on Saturday as they get set to face each other next week.

The Huskies traveled to Lake County and defeated Kelseyville 32-30, while the Panthers played closer to home, winning 36-34 at Ferndale.

Mariah Bravo scored a team-high 10 points for the Huskies, who improved to 12-6 on the season.

The game was a tight back-and-forth defensive battle.

“We did a really good job against their trapping defense,” Fortuna head coach Tom Chapman said. “The girls made plays when they had to.”

The win came against a Division-4 school, which could be important when it comes time for seedings for the North Coast Section playoffs next month.

Kelseyville dropped to 8-7.

The Panthers, meanwhile, also won a close game at Ferndale, as they improved to 14-5 on the season.

“It wasn’t our best outing, but we pulled through in the end,” McKinleyville head coach Jacob Cheek said. “We just have to continue to improve mentally.”

The victory was the team’s fifth in the last six games.

File photo

The loss was the second straight for the Wildcats, who dropped to 10-6, but the Ferndale players impressed Cheek with the way they played.

“Ferndale plays hard all game and they were ready to go,” the McKinleyville coach said. “I was impressed by their athleticism.”

Tatum Fisher led the Panthers with a game-high 14 points while teammate MaryAnn Som added nine points.

Bailee Box and Gabby Watson each chipped in four points for McKinleyville.

The Wildcats were led by Tinnley Pidgeon and Michaela Ellsmore, each of whom scored nine points.

Once again, however, inconsistent offense proved costly for the Cats, who scored just 12 points in the first half to leave them 11 points adrift.

“We’re playing good defense, we just can’t half halves like that when you’re playing bigger schools,” Ferndale head coach Chris Ardrey said. “We’ve got to play a full game.”

After battling back in the second half, the Wildcats had possession with six seconds remaining and an opportunity to at least send the game to overtime, but the late chance came up short.

Next up, McKinleyville will play at Fortuna on Tuesday night in a key Big 5 game, while the Ferndale girls will play at Hoopa on Thursday in a Little showdown.