The Arcata Tigers and St. Bernard’s Crusaders have advanced to tournament championships games after big wins for both on Friday night.

The Arcata girls faced off against rival McKinleyville in an early-season matchup at their own Tahnia Campbell Classic tournament and won 72-43 to set up a championship showdown against Chico on Saturday afternoon.

The Crusaders had a busy night.

Samantha Sundberg continued her impressive start to the new season and led the SB girls to a 52-43 win over Benicia in the semifinal of the Sonoma Valley Dragons tournament.

Later in the night, the St. Bernard’s girls made the short trip to play Division-1 California High School at the Cardinal Newman Showcase after filling in at the last minute for a team that had to back out.

The Crusaders lost that game 59-27 but gained some valuable experience matching up against a quality program.

“The girls ran out of gas after the tough win versus Benicia and could not keep up with the talented Division-1 team,” SB head coach Matt Tomlin said. “I was proud of their effort and their willingness to take on this challenge with back-to-back games.”

Sundberg played a pivotal role in the tournament win and has hit the ground running this year, leading her team in scoring in all three games so far.

“Samantha Sundberg has been playing big-time basketball to start the season and has carried us to the championship game,” Tomlin said. 

Carli Baum, CJ Figas and Macie Wantt each added seven points in the win, while Tally Williams chipped in six points.

Williams gave the Crusaders a big lift with two pivotal 3-pointers in the fourth quarter with the game still well in the balance.

“I am super proud of how these ladies are playing,” Tomlin said.

Sundberg scored seven points against California, while Baum added six points.

Battilocchi, Allen impress for Panthers 

Lily Battilocchi continued her good start to the new season with another strong performance at the Tahnia Campbell Classic on Friday night, but the Panthers came up short against their biggest rivals.

The sophomore finished with 10 points, seven rebounds and six blocks.

Ahty Allen also impressed head coach Alisha Hunter.

“I’ve been waiting for this type of game out of her,” Hunter said of the senior. “She played like she’s been here before. Being one of my only seniors who has experienced this level of competition, (she) set the pace on offense and defense.”

Allen shot 80 percent from the floor and finished with eight points and also had four big steals.

However, the Tigers would take control of the game and pulled away for a comfortable win to go to 3-0 on the season.

No stats from Friday’s win were immediately available for the Tigers.

“Hats off to Arcata,” Hunter said. “(They) shot the ball well and definitely made the right adjustments at the right time.”

The game was close early, but the hosts began to take control with their perimeter shooting and the Panthers had a hard time containing them.

Hunter, however, believes the game will benefit her players moving forward.

“Overall, we got better,” she said.

In other tournament action on Friday, Eureka defeated the host school 61-27 at the Gridley tournament, Fortuna defeated Pierce 42-16 at the Colusa tournament, Ferndale defeated Cloverdale 68-44 at the Cloverdale tournament, and Hoopa defeated Point Arena 55-36, also at the Cloverdale tournament.