The St. Bernard’s boys tipped off the Kelseyville tournament with a fourth straight win on Thursday night, defeating Cloverdale 69-54.

With the win, the No. 5 ranked team in the North Coast Section improved to 6-1.

They will continue tournament play on Friday against Middletown.

In other tournament games on Thursday, the Hoopa boys bounced back from a tournament-opening loss to Argonaut at the Mother Lode Madness tournament with a 79-51 win over Denair and improved to 7-6, while the Arcata boys dropped their opener at the Red Bluff tournament, falling 64-61 to Crater.

The Tigers are now 5-6.

The McKinleyville boys won their tournament opener at the Frank Wells Classic at Albany High, defeating Skyline 60-28 and improving to 8-2.  

At the Kelseyville girls tournament, the Ferndale Wildcats continued to roll despite battling several injuries, getting the better of McKinleyville 52-37 and improving to 7-1.

The Panthers dropped to 6-4.

Also at the Kelseyville tournament, the St. Bernard’s girls comfortably took care of business in their opener against Casa Grande, winning 55-28 and improving to 5-3.

In non-tournament action on Thursday, the Eureka girls beat Analy 56-27 and improved to 8-2.

Liam Dyer led the way offensively for the SB boys, finishing with 22 points, nine rebounds and three assists.

“Boys played well here in Kelseyville overall,” SB head coach Pat Shanahan said. “We attacked the paint well and were strong on the glass for the most part.”

Carson Costa also impressed in the win and posted a double-double, finishing with 22 points, 11 rebounds and four assists, while point guard Prince Latimer added six points and five assists.

Luke Brunton also had a good night and finished with eight points and seven boards.

“It was a good team win as all our guys got some solid minutes and good game reps,” Shanahan said. “We could have played better and the boys know that, we just need to find more consistency for all four quarters.

“They are working hard and making adjustments in game as needed.”

Garrett Shanahan added six points in the win, while Trenten Hagler chipped in five points.

Hoopa 79, Denair 51

The Warriors quickly got back to winning ways one day after opening the Mother Lode Madness tournament with a loss to Argonaut.

Malakai McCoy scored a team-high 28 points in the win, while young teammate Ma-ninay Ferris added 23 points after just being called up from the JV team.

“We actually played really good,” Hoopa head coach Inker McCovey said. “My sophomore came in and had a lot of good shots. He came in and played pretty well.”

Denair had some size, but the Warriors compensated with their quickness and shooting.

“They were a lot bigger than us, but every team is bigger than us,” McCovey added. “We played pretty good defense and I kind of changed my offense up a little bit, and we kind of wore them down.”

The Warriors will continue tournament play against Futures on Friday evening at 5 p.m.

McKinleyville 60, Skyline 28

The Panthers bounced back from a weekend loss to St. Bernard’s with a 32-point win at Albany High School.

Lucas Jones finished with a team-high 10 points in the win, while James Fike, Jeremiah Smith and Henry Turner each added eight points in what was a balanced team performance.

The Panthers will continue tournament play on Friday.

Crater 64, Arcata 61

A new-look Tigers team is still searching for consistency over four quarters, but they are beginning to find their groove.

After losing to the same school by 31 points at the Red Bluff tournament last year, this time around the game was a lot closer and back and forth.

“We’re playing about three quarters of good basketball, we just can’t put four quarters together,” said Arcata coach Kellen Maynard, who added that he can’t be too unhappy with the performance against a quality Crater program that improved to 7-0 with the win. 

Luke Lemke continued to impress for the defending Big 5 champs and finished with 22 points, while teammates Elias Gomez and Sebastian Baker each chipped in 11 points.

“Sebastian Baker probably had his best game of the season so far,” Maynard said of the junior. “He was aggressive offensively, he took to to the basket consistently and got a couple of put-backs on hustle plays.”

The Tigers will continue tournament play against Pleasant Valley on Friday at 3 p.m.

GIRLS

Ferndale 52, McKinleyville 37

The Wildcats continued to roll despite facing some injuries right now.

Earlier in the week, freshman Abagail Gossi rolled her ankle and is expected to miss a couple of weeks, while head coach Chris Ardrey and his players are still waiting on the return of senior Quinn Stokesberry.

On top of that, leading scorer Michaela Ellsmore missed much of Thursday night’s game after being poked in the eye.

To compensate for the injuries, Ardrey has called up three players from the JV team.

Despite the adversity, however, the Wildcats made it five straight wins and a second over a Big 5 school in three days, having also beaten Del Norte 46-40 in non-tournament action on Tuesday.

Tinnley Pidgeon continued to impress against McKinleyville and scored a team-high 15 points, while Madison Gossi also continued to play a pivotal role and added 14 points.

Ellsmore chipped in 11 points despite missing much of the game.

Once again, the team defense played a key role in the win.

Teresa Catana and Claire Renner have been stepping up in the absence of their injured teammates.

The Cats will play St. Bernard’s at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, facing a second H-DNL school in two days despite having traveled several hours for the tournament.

No stats from Thursday’s game were immediately available for the Panthers.

Eureka 56, Analy 27

The Loggers started fast on their way to a third straight win and their sixth in seven games.

“We jumped on them quick. Solid defense with pressure up court,” said Eureka head coach Cliff Napoleon, whose team led 26-5 after the opening quarter.

However, with the help of five 3-pointers in the first half the Tigers would battle back and cut the deficit to 14 at the break.

But that was just a minor setback for the Eureka girls, who would quickly re-assert their superiority with a better second half.

“We got a little lackadaisical in the second (quarter) and started to relax,” Napoleon said, adding that the five 3s they gave up was “uncharacteristic of us.”

The 3-point defense picked up after the interval as the Loggers gave up just one on the way to the 29-point win.

Nashya Williams continued her impressive start to the new season and finished with 12 points, as did teammate Bella Gast.

Madelyn Fazio added 10 points, while Tiarah Maualuga chipped in nine points.

St. Bernard’s 55, Casa Grande 28

Sophomore Carli Baum had one of her best performances on the young season for the Crusaders, who won by 27 points in their Kelseyville tournament opener.

Baum finished with 13 points, but her contributions went well beyond that, as the Crusaders started fast and opened up a 30-point lead in the second quarter.

“Carli Baum was absolutely electric at point guard tonight and she got the entire team firing on all cylinders early,” St. Bernard’s head coach Matt Tomlin said. 

With the game well in hand in the opening half, Tomlin was able to go deep to his bench, with several players impressing for the team and the entire roster seeing plenty of playing time.

CJ Figas added nine points in the win, while Alyssa Boham finished with eight points and Samantha Sundberg and Malia Masayos each had seven points.

Friday’s tournament semifinal will serve as a Little 4 preview between the two teams that are expected to challenge for this year’s conference championship.

“We are now looking forward to a big semifinal game tomorrow against a well-coached and solid Ferndale team,” Tomlin said.