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

By Ray Hamill — Four H-DNL teams are still alive in the chase for a North Coast Section championship in basketball after Saturday’s playoff action.

Three teams played their quarterfinals on Saturday night, with the St. Bernard’s boys moving on and the McKinleyville and Hoopa girls seeing their seasons come to an end.

The St. Bernard’s boys welcomed San Francisco Waldorf to Eureka in Division-6 action and rolled to am easy 84-56 victory.

They will join the Fortuna girls, the St. Bernard’s girls and the Ferndale girls in next week’s semifinals.

Also on Saturday, the Hoopa girls traveled to Sonoma Academy for their Division-4 quarterfinal and lost a close one by a score of 62-60, while the McKinleyville girls traveled to play Moreau Catholic in Division-2 action and fell 34-27 to end their season.

At St. Bernard’s, the Crusaders wasted no time taking control of their game, opening up a 20-12 lead after the opening quarter and stretching the advantage to 24 (47-23) at halftime.

“After not playing a game for more than a week, we were excited to get back out on the court again, especially in front of our home crowd in a playoff game,” SB assistant coach Pat Shanahan said. 

“The boys came out playing tough. We limited them to one shot and communicated well on defense.”

Liam Dyer scored a game-high 24 points in the win and also had five assists, while teammate Trenten Hagler added 18 points and five rebounds.

Prince Latimer also impressed for the home team and finished with 17 points, three assists and three steals, while Garrett Shanahan finished with a double-double, scoring 12 points and pulling down 10 rebounds.

Luke Brunton also made some big contributions.

“Luke’s defense really helped us play the way we want to play,” Pat Shanahan added. “Trenten was patient and also aggressive at the right times.

“Liam shot it well and spread out their zone defense effectively. Prince got out in transition and also facilitated our offense really well.

“Garrett played strong and on balance.”

Carson Costa added seven points and four assists, while Tyler Hinrichs finished with three assists and Brunton had four rebounds.

“Carson cut to open spots,” Pat Shanahan said. “Tyler played tough defense as well. It was a complete team effort.”

The team continues to make strides as they head towards the section semifinals.

“Against the zone defense of SF Waldorf we did a great job of moving the basketball and finding the open man,” the coach said. “We coaches are so proud of the progress we have made and continue to make on both ends of the floor.”

The top-seeded Crusaders will host No. 5 Mendocino in Wednesday night’s semifinal.

The Mack girls, meanwhile, traveled to Hayward to play the Mariners in Division-2 action and came up just short despite matching up effectively against their opponents.

They closed out the season with a record of 18-11, which was the most wins the program has had in 13 years.

“Couldn’t be more proud as the coach of this team,” McKinleyville head coach Jacob Cheek said afterwards. “We’ve come a long way this year and have had a lot of growth, including myself. All the way from our seniors and down.

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, (this was) one of the most fun teams I’ve coached over the years.

“They have a lot to be proud of.”

Gabby Watson scored a team-high 13 points in what was a low-scoring game, while freshman Lily Battilocchi had five points and senior Tatum Fisher chipped in four points.

“Unfortunately we didn’t execute on the offensive end the way we wanted, but defensively we played pretty solid,” Cheek added. “But it takes both to come out on top.”

This year’s McKinleyville team featured five seniors — Fisher, Watson, MaryAnn Som, Bailee Box and Sarah McCray — each of whom made some big contributions this winter and all of whom will be missed.

And their relationship with their coach goes back to before their high school days.

“I’ve known this senior group since sixth grade as their PE teacher,” Cheek said. “I am amazed and proud of who they’ve become and I can’t wait to see where life takes them.”

The Hoopa girls, meanwhile, were led by sophomore Wau’Kel Blake, who capped a big playoff week with another strong performance.

Blake finished with a team-high 30 points as the Warriors lost by just two.

They closed out the season with a record of 11-11.