Submitted photo – St. Bernard’s senior Laila Florvilus was named the MLK Showcase Player of the Game on Monday.

St. Bernard’s basketball is firing on all cylinders as we head towards the business end of the season.

On Monday, both the boys and girls teams took a break from conference action and both remained red-hot.

The girls traveled to Heritage High School to compete at the MLK Showcase event and got some revenge against the team that knocked them out of last year’s North Coast Section playoffs.

The Crusaders defeated Cornerstone Christian 53-42.

The win was the ninth straight for the hottest team in the H-DNL, boys or girls, and lifted the Crusaders to 18-1 on the season.

Senior Laila Florvilus continued to play a pivotal role for St. Bernard’s and finished with a team-high 24 points, to go with nine rebounds and five steals.

The standout senior was named the MLK Showcase Player of the Game.

Freshman point guard Carli Baum also continued to impress for the SB girls and added seven points, five steals and four assists, while sophomore guard CJ Figas had seven points.

“We focused on handling full court pressure for two practices to prepare for this game and the girls did a great job of taking care of the basketball and turning that into opportunities to score in transition,” SB head coach Matt Tomlin said. “I am very proud of them for executing the game plan.”

Senior Aliyah Vigil continued to anchor the team defense and aded five points in the win, while Samantha Sundberg finished with 10 rebounds and four points and Jocelyn Sundberg had four points.

Next up, the Crusaders will host three games this week, including non-conference matchups against Del Norte (Wednesday) and McKinleyville (at College of the Redwoods on Saturday), as well as a key Little 4 game against Hoopa on Thursday.

Boys

St. Bernard’s 50, St. Vincent de Paul 43

The Crusaders traveled to Petaluma to play a tough Mustangs team and posted their fifth straight win and their 12th in their last 13 games.

But they had to overcome a tough start to the game, as the Mustangs came out on fire and led 11-1 in the opening few minutes on their way to 21 first-quarter points.

“The boys didn’t panic,” St. Bernard’s assistant coach Pat Shanahan said. “They stayed poised once again, made some key adjustments and held (the Mustangs) to 22 posts the rest of the game. In every facet of the game we played tough, especially in the second half.”

Tyler Hinrichs played a big part in that, anchoring the SB defense for much of the game with a resilient performance, while Liam Dyer and Prince Latimer both continued to set the pace at the offensive end.

The always dangerous Dyer finished with 20 points and six rebounds, while Latimer added 17 points.

Dyer, according to his coaches, overcame some adversity and finished the game strong, while Latimer was “aggressive offensively” and also played well at the defensive end to cap a good all-around performance.

Carson Costa added seven points, while Garrett Shanahan finished with 11 rebounds and six points and Hinrichs had six rebounds.

“So proud of how we responded after being down early, especially against such a strong and fundamental team,” Pat Shanahan added. “This is a young squad who is mature and smart beyond their years.”

The Crusaders, who improved to 14-3, will play a non-conference game at McKinleyville on Wednesday before a key Little 4 matchup at Hoopa on Friday.