Submitted photos – The Knights with their five tournament pennants.

By Ray Hamill — The future of girls basketball at St. Bernard’s appears to be in good hands.

Over the weekend, the school’s eighth grade team completed a perfect season by taking the championship at the Crescent City Jaycees Tournament in the AAA division.

The tourney title was the fifth of the season for the young Knights, who closed out with a record of 21-0.

And a team-first mentality paved the way to success for this group of players.

“I think the biggest thing about this team is how unselfish they are and how they all bought in,” head coach Martha Shanahan said. “Everyone was willing to make that extra pass.”

The SB girls went 3-0 in Crescent City, including victories over the McKinleyville Middle School seventh graders and Redwood Elementary in the opening two rounds, before facing off against Parsons Junior High out of Redding in the championship game.

The matchup against Redwood was the second for the Knights this year, and the young Crescent City girls gave them all they could handle.

“That was a battle,” Shanahan said. “It was close for the whole game. They played us really tough.”

The Knights followed that with a relatively comfortable 39-14 win in the final.

“They had a lot of good athletes, but our girls played such amazing team basketball in that game,” Shanahan added.

Several players stood out for the Knights in tournament play, including Vivienne Shanahan, Kate Bailey and Tayleigh Crenshaw, all of whom were named to the all-tournament team.

All three of those girls have played a pivotal role for the Knights all season long.

“Vivienne has a really solid understanding of the game of basketball,” Martha Shanahan said of the versatile eighth grader who played multiple positions for her team and was named tournament MVP. “She makes the right play at the right time. On the offensive end she was a threat inside and also from the 3-point line. She was a tenacious rebounder and defender as well.”

Bailey and Crenshaw also enjoyed good tournaments.

“Kate is a phenomenal point guard,” the coach added of Bailey, who provided one of the highlight moments of the season with a game-clinching buzzer beater in the championship game at the Chico tournament earlier in the year. “When you watch her play, she’s so smooth and she’s an amazing shooter and a tremendous ball handler.”

Crenshaw played post and impressed in the paint all season long.

“She’s super strong and just kind off intimidating,” the head coach said. “She was a force inside with her rebounding and also posting up.”

Emilyn Wilson and Willow Wantt each also impressed for the team this season.

Wilson was one of the team’s best defenders and relished the role.

“She was the player that we put on the other teams’ best player and shut them down on defense,” Martha Shanahan said. “She was kind of a pit bull on defense and really thrived and enjoyed (that role).

“Willow is incredibly fast and quick. She got so many steals for us. She has great anticipation and quick hands, and her basketball IQ got a lot better.”

Alexa Williams was the lone seventh grader on this year’s team but that didn’t prevent her from having a major impact.

“She’s such an amazing athlete,” the coach said of Williams, who was the first player off the bench. “She’s really quick and really strong and she has a really nice touch around the hoop.”

Lily Morgan, Irely Ponnay, Maddy Amen Sherman and Paloma Granados rounded out the roster, and all four of them also made some big contributions in the team’s success.

“Lily is a super hared worker and improved defensively this year, using her speed and quickness to stay in front of players,” the coach said. “Irely, the only lefty on our team, has tremendous athleticism and a quick first step. Her positive energy is contagious.

“Maddy is a great passer and knocked down some clutch 3s for us this year. She’s one of the most positive teammates too and broke all our huddles this year.

“Paloma is tough and an aggressive defender. She really understands angles and spacing and as the year went on got more comfortable taking her shot, and she knocked down some good shots.”

Overall, it was a fun season for the players and coaches.

“They were very coachable. They were very much willing to learn,” Martha Shanahan said. “And they were great teammates. They had fun together, and everybody just kind of accepted their roles. They were just well rounded.”

In addition to the tournament championships at the Jaycees and Chico, the young Knights also placed first at the U Prep tournament in Redding, at the McKinleyville Middle School tournament and at Eureka’s Bay City Classic.