File photo – St. Bernard’s will play for a tournament championship on Saturday for the third straight week.

The St. Bernard’s Crusaders will be hoping third time is the charm on Saturday, as they get set to play in the championship game of the Kelseyville tournament.

This is the third straight weekend the SB girls have reached a tournament final after also doing so at the Sonoma Valley and Mt. Shasta tournaments, and this time they’re hoping to take home the title after placing second on each of the last two weekends.

On Friday, they secured a spot in the championship and some early-season bragging rights over their Little 4 rivals with a statement 63-40 win over the Ferndale Wildcats.

And they did so with an impressive and balanced team performance.

“Absolutely amazing performance by the ladies tonight,” St. Bernard’s head coach Matt Tomlin said. “They played outstanding team basketball and everybody contributed to the victory.”

The loss ended a five-game winning streak for the Ferndale girls, who suffered just their second defeat of the season and dropped to 7-2.

“We got an old-fashioned butt kicking,” Ferndale head coach Chris Ardrey said. “We missed at least 10 (easy shots) and you can’t do that against a good team.

“We’ll learn from our butt kicking.”

Nine players scored for the Crusaders, including three in double digits.

Samantha Sundberg led the way offensively and finished with 19 points, while Carli Baum continued her impressive tournament and added 13 points.

CJ Figas also had 11 points in the win, while Tally Williams chipped in seven points.

Michaela Ellsmore, Dahlia Cantù-Mendez and Tinnley Pidgeon each scored eight points for the Cats.

With the win, the Crusaders improved to 6-3.

“The last two weekends we have finished in second place,” Tomlin said. “We want to come out tomorrow and attack the championship game with great energy and try to bring the championship trophy home.”

Maria Carrillo 53, Eureka 45

With three players fouling out, the Loggers lost a non-tournament game at Maria Carrillo on Friday night.

With the loss, they dropped to 8-3.

“We were out-worked tonight and didn’t play smart,” Eureka head coach Cliff Napoleon said. “We just have to be smarter out there.”

Nashya Williams led the offense and finished with a team-high 17 points, while Bella Gast and Madelyn Fazio each added eight points.

The Eureka girls will continue a three-game road trip with a game against American Canyon on Saturday at 3 p.m.

The Loggers will be hoping for a measure of revenge after losing 46-35 to American Canyon at the Windsor tournament last weekend.