Petaluma beaten in Rose City Tournament

While they may not be league opponents anymore, the Windsor and Healdsburg boys basketball teams battled like a pennant was on the line in the final day of pool play at the Redwood Empire Invitational Basketball Tournament hosted by the Greyhounds.

The Jaguars leapt out to a 13-point at the half and extended that lead to 16 in the opening minutes of the third quarter, only to see the ’Hounds rally back to cut the deficit to single-digits. But then Finn Grace and Hayden Anderson, the duo that kept Windsor in front all night, closed the quarter with three consecutive buckets to push the lead back to 16 and put an end to Healdsburg’s comeback.

The Jaguars went on to win 63-42 and advance to the champion game of REIBT on Saturday, where they’ll face CIF State Division 4 runner-up Justin-Siena at 6:30 p.m. in what should be a high-level local matchup.

Anderson, the football star, had a season-high 23 points with three three-pointers, while Grace was below his season average with 10 points but added five rebounds and four assists to lead Windsor (4-3).

Healdsburg, which falls to 6-1 on the year, was led by Max Hubbell and Sebastian Miranda, who scored 12 points apiece.

The ’Hounds will face Ukiah in REIBT’s third-place game at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. The Wildcats (7-1) also suffered their first loss of the season Friday to Justin-Siena but didn’t back down from the tall challenge.

The Braves (7-1) led 15-13 after one and 37-23 at the half, but Ukiah cut the lead to 37-27 early in the third thanks to Marcus Fenk, who had a game-high 27 points with four three-pointers. A few minutes later, a fast-break dunk for Vincent Jackson pushed the Braves’ lead back to 12 and they never looked back en route to a 67-49 victory.

Jackson had 16 points and Travis Hightower, a 6-7 forward, had a team-high 18 for Justin-Siena.

Elsewhere on Friday night, Cardinal Newman advanced to the championship of its Rose City tournament with a 52-29 win over Rancho Cotate.

Drew Krilich and Mahdi Camara had 10 points apiece to lead the Cardinals (8-0), who will square off with St. Francis-Mountain View (4-0) in the championship game at 4 p.m. Saturday.

Rancho Cotate (4-6) was led by Adam Pengel (13 points, four three-pointers) and will face Petaluma (2-1) in the third-place game at 2:30 p.m.

The Trojans gave St. Francis all it could handle in Friday’s semifinals, heading into the fourth quarter trailing 39-37 before the Lancers pulled away late for a 58-46 win.

Andy Bai had 17 points for Petaluma and Rowan added eight.

Rounding out boys basketball action from Friday, Casa Grande faltered late against Carlmont in the semifinals of the Miramonte Matador Invitational in a 51-36 loss.

The Gauchos (2-2) trailed by five at the break but were outscored 21-11 in the second half. Jordan Giacomini had 14 points with a pair of three-pointers and Spencer Almond had a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Girls basketball

In the Paris Twins Classic, tournament host Piedmont blitzed Cardinal Newman from the opening tip and ran away with a 66-34 victory over the Cardinals. The Highlanders (5-0) leapt out to a 22-11 lead after one and led by 13 at the break before pilling it on in the second half 31-12.

The loss drops the Cardinals to 5-2 on the year. They’ll look to bounce back against Vanden (3-2) in Saturday’s third-place game.

Locally, Sonoma Valley will be playing for the Lady Pumas Invitational championship after beating host Maria Carrillo 50-37 in Friday’s semifinals. The Dragons (7-1) were led by Trinity Wilkens (16 points) and Lola Martin (11 points) and will face San Marin (5-2) for the title on Saturday at noon.

Maria Carrillo (3-2), which got eight points apiece from Keira Cangson and Hanisi Daveta, will play Eureka (6-2) in the third-place game at 4:30 p.m.

In the girls bracket of Healdsburg’s REIBT, the host Greyhounds lost to Arcata 49-43 in the semifinals. Healdsburg (9-2) will play Justin-Siena (4-1) in the third-place game at 5 p.m.

The championship game will be Arcata (5-1) vs. Ukiah (5-2), which beat Justin-Siena 49-46 on Friday.

At Windsor’s Rumble in the Jungle tournament, Branson (3-4) and Miramonte (5-1) will face off for the title at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.

Miramonte advanced to the championship game with a 52-35 win over Windsor (4-4), which will play San Leandro at 2 p.m. for third place.

Petaluma defeated Capuchino 41-33 on Friday and will face Amador Valley at 12:30 p.m. for the consolation title. Amador Valley defeated Montgomery 43-40 on a three-point buzzer-beater on Friday. Kaia Eubanks had 18 for the Vikings (1-4) and Emily Mathis added 13.