Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com

By Ray Hamill — The Fortuna Huskies kept pressure on the Big 5 leaders with a hard-fought 56-47 win over the Panthers at McKinleyville High on Wednesday night.

But it was far from easy and the visitors had to dig deep late to secure the win.

There was little to separate the two schools early in the game but Fortuna began to take control in the second quarter and led by seven at halftime (30-23).

A resilient McKinleyville team, however, would claw its way back and the game was tied 43-43 two minutes into the fourth quarter.

But with their title hopes on the line, the visitors finished the stronger of the two teams and closed out the game on a 13-4 run, thanks in large part to some big-time 3-pointers by Macee Marquez and Kaleya Parkinson.

“I am happy with our team playing through a lot of contact and finding ways to score,” Fortuna head coach Tom Chapman said. “Macee Marquez and Kaleya Parkinson hit some big shots in the fourth quarter and we did enough to win.”

The Panthers had another good night rebounding, as they have been doing for much of the season, and they pushed the Huskies all the way.

“We played the best team basketball we’ve played all season,” McKinleyville head coach Alisha Hunter said. “We just haven’t figured out how to capitalize on our efforts when the momentum goes our way.”

Many of their younger players continued to impress for the Panthers, including sophomore Lily Battilocchi, who finished the game with 14 rebounds, six points and five blocks.

Fellow sophomore Olivia Murphy also impressed and added nine points, while freshman Cabella Carper had 10 points.

Marquez scored a game-high 12 points for the Huskies, including three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, while Parkinson had 11 points, including three 3s.

“Hats off to the Huskies,” Hunter said. “They hit big 3s to keep the momentum going their way. We spent more time on offense tonight and seemed to forget about their ability to shoot.”

Olivia Scillacci added nine points for the Fortuna girls, who improved to 1-1 in the Big 5 and 14-4 overall, while teammates Evalynn Little and Tatiana Olson each had seven points.

Liana Stumpf and Avery Bartoo each added seven points for McKinleyville, which dropped to 0-3 in the Big 5 and 10-8 overall.

“Proud of my squad for not giving up,” Hunter said. “They figured some things out tonight. We stayed consistent as usual pulling down 42 rebounds. Just need to figure out how to cut our turnovers in half.”

Chapman also praised the effort of the Mack players.

“McKinleyville did a great job of responding to our runs,” the Fortuna coach said. “Felt we could not put the game away. 

“A lot of credit to coach Hunter and her players. They played hard and rebounded the ball well. We could not keep them off the offensive glass.”

Olivia Powell and Taylor Heussler each added four points for Fortuna.

Next up, on Friday night, the Huskies will travel to play Eureka while the Panthers will make the short trip to play neighbor and rival Arcata.