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

The St. Bernard’s Crusaders took another step towards a conference championship with a dominating win over Hoopa in Eureka on Thursday night.

The host team quickly took control of the game and outscored the visiting Warriors 32-7 in the opening quarter on the way to a 68-28 victory. 

All 10 players in uniform scored in the win, which was the Crusaders’ 11th straight, as they improved to 3-0 halfway through their conference schedule and 20-1 overall.

“Great team win tonight,” is how St. Bernard’s head coach Matt Tomlin described it. “All 10 players in uniform played great and got in the scoring column.”

Samantha Sundberg led the way for the Crusaders offensively and finished with a team-high 16 points, while teammate Laila Florvilus added 14 points.

Alyssa Boham and Carli Baum each also impressed for the Crusaders and finished with 10 and nine points, respectively, while Jocelyn Sundberg chipped in six points and Aliyah Vigil and Kayla Maples each had four points.

No stats were immediately available for Hoopa.

With the loss, the Warriors dropped to 1-2 in conference play and 8-8 overall.

Next up, the Crusaders will host McKinleyville in non-conference action at College of the Redwoods on Saturday at 2 p.m.

The Warriors will host South Fork on Friday of next week.

Ferndale 53, South Fork 14

The Wildcats kept the pressure on the conference leaders with their second win in three Little 4 games.

The Ferndale girls comfortably got the better of South Fork, as they improved to 12-6 overall with their second straight win.

And they achieved it with a good all-around team performance.

“I thought we played good team basketball,” Ferndale head coach Chris Ardrey said. “We passed the ball well and we did some good things.”

Juniors Tinnley Pidgeon and Michaela Ellsmore led the way.

Pidgeon scored a game-high 17 points, while Ellsmore added 11 points.

With no JV game, Ardrey used the occasion to pull up some of his JV players for the varsity showdown and gave them some valuable playing time.

“We had a couple of JV girls who came up and played,” he said. “A lot of girls got some playing time, which was good.”

Sophomore Gianna Regli also impressed for the Cats and added seven points, while Quinn Stokesberry saw some time at center and impressed on her way to scoring four points.

No stats were immediately available for the Cubs, who dropped to 0-3 in conference play.

Next up, the Wildcats will play at St. Bernard’s on Friday of next week in a pivotal showdown, while on the same night South Fork will play at Hoopa.