Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Junior Madelyn Fazio in action for the Loggers on Tuesday night.

Junior guard Madelyn Fazio enjoyed one of her best games of the season on Tuesday as the Eureka Loggers quickly got back to winning ways.

Just three days after losing to crosstown rival St. Bernard’s in a non-conference game, the Eureka girls welcomed Del Norte to Jay Willard Gymnasium for a Big 5 showdown and ran out to a comfortable 65-16 victory.

In the other Big 5 game on Tuesday, the McKinleyville Panthers traveled to Fortuna and came away with a hard-fought 39-33 victory. 

The win for the Loggers keeps them unbeaten in the Big 5 after two games and lifts them into a tie atop the standings with the Arcata Tigers, who had a bye in conference play on Tuesday.

Fazio was instrumental off the bench and finished with a game-high 15 points in a showdown the Loggers quickly took control of and never looked in danger of losing.

A Fazio 3-pointer gave her team a 16-3 lead just five minutes in and the Loggers carried a 15-point lead into the second quarter.

They stretched the advantage to 23 before halftime, and after that there was no way back for the visitors, who dropped to 0-3 in the Big 5.

Nashaya Williams also impressed for the Eureka girls as she continues to play a key role for the team.

The junior guard finished with 14 points, while teammates Tiara Maualuga and Samara Gaither each added 12 points.

Brooklyn Carter led the visitors with nine points, as the Warriors lost a fourth straight game and dropped to 12-8 overall.

Makana Baugh also impressed for the Warriors and added four points as well as pulling down several rebounds and making her presence felt at the defensive end.

Eureka is now 12-2 on the season.

Next up, the Loggers will play a Big 5 game at Fortuna on Thursday, while the Del Norte girls have a bye in conference play until next Tuesday when they host Fortuna.

At Fortuna, meanwhile, the visiting Panthers won a back-and-forth showdown despite being held to just four points in the fourth quarter.

Fortuna’s Jorlynn Villalvazo and McKinleyville’s Tatum Fisher each scored a game-high 19 points.

The win was the third straight for the Panthers.

“I thought we played a very gritty game as a team today,” McKinleyville head coach Jacob Cheek said. “We played solid team defense and we stuck up for one another.”

As her stat line would suggest, Fisher was instrumental in the win, but it wasn’t just her offense that stood out.

“Tatum Fisher had one of her better games of the season tonight by playing a complete game on both sides of the ball,” her head coach added. 

The Huskies held a slender one-point advantage after the opening quarter, but the Panthers enjoyed the better of exchanges in the second and carried a one-point lead into halftime.

The visitors extended the advantage to six going into the fourth quarter and they would make it stick despite being held to just one field goal over the final eight minutes.

“It was a hard-fought back-and-forth game,” said Fortuna head coach Tom Chapman, whose team dropped to 0-2 in the Big 5 and 12-7 overall.

Gabby Watson added nine points for the Panthers and had a good night at the free-throw line, making seven of eight attempts.

Bailee Box also had six points for the Mack girls, who improved to 2-1 in the Big 5 and 15-5 overall.

Sophomore Evalynn Little added five points and eight rebounds for the Huskies and Mariah Bravo chipped in four points.

Villalvazo also had seven rebounds.

The host team pushed the visitors all the way.

“Fortuna was physical throughout the game, preventing us from getting the ball into the post,” Cheek said.

A strong team performance, including from some of the young players on the roster, helped lift the Panthers to a second straight conference win since dropping their opener to Eureka a week ago.

“We had many young players step up for us tonight as well, and as always our seniors led the way with their leadership and communication,” Cheek said.

Next up, on Thursday, McKinleyville will host Arcata and Fortuna will host Eureka.