Submitted photo – The Ferndale Wildcats celebrate their tournament championship at Trinity on Saturday.

The Wildcats apparently learned their lesson from Friday night.

On Saturday afternoon, the Ferndale girls closed out the Holiday Classic at Trinity High School with a come-from-behind 69-61 win over the hosts in a high-scoring final.

It was a good response by the players after a disappointing display in the second half of Friday night’s semifinal against Modoc, when the Cats played one of their worst quarters in recent memory with just one point in the third period.

This time around, however, there would be no repeat performance.

“We talked about that at halftime,” Ferndale head coach Chris Ardrey said. “We had one of our worst quarters ever (on Friday), and (on Saturday) they played fantastic in the third quarter. I was pretty stoked for the kids.”

The Wildcats trailed by seven at halftime, but would outscore the Wolves 22-13 in the third quarter and put up 42 points in the second half.

After being held to a season-low six points on Friday, sharp-shooting senior Michaela Ellsmore scored a team-high 27 points on Saturday with what might have been her most impressive game of the young season.

The senior team captain was particularly effective in the second half, scoring 22 points over the final two periods, including four 3-pointers.

But she was far from the only standout on the day.

Fellow senior Tinnley Pidgeon added 14 points in the win and was named tournament MVP after three big performances for the tournament champs.

“Tinnley played well,” Ardrey said of the team captain. “On both sides of the ball she was just ridiculously good.”

Ellsmore and Madison Gossi were both also named to the all-tournament team.

Gianna Regli added 12 points in the win, while impressive freshman Abagail Gossi had 10 points, and her older sister, Madison, chipped in six points.

“I’m proud of the girls,” Ardrey said. “It was a good way to come back in the second half, and Trinity is a well-coached and good team.”

With the win, the Cats improved to 5-1.

Next up, the Wildcats will host Del Norte in a non-tournament game on Tuesday evening.

Submitted photo – From left to right, Ferndale’s all-tournament selections Madison Gossi, Michaela Ellsmore and MVP Tinnley Pidgeon.