Prep basketball | Eureka, Ferndale girls survive Niclai quarterfinals

The quarterfinals for the 2025 Niclai Tournament came to a close Tuesday night with both the Eureka Loggers and the Ferndale Wildcats getting wins to advance to the semifinals at College of the Redwoods in the girls tournament.

Eureka handled business at home against the McKinleyville Panthers with a low-scoring 44-36 win.

It was the Loggers third win over McKinleyville this season and bumped Eureka to 19-4 on the season.

One of the four losses came against the St.

Bernards Crusaders, who Eureka will face in the semifinals on Thursday.

The Crusaders used a big second half to carry them to victory over the Loggers in their meeting last month, where three SB players, senior Laila Florvilus, freshman Carli Baum and sophomore Samantha Sundberg, all logged double-doubles.

The Loggers have gone 8-2 since their loss to St.

Bernards, with both of those losses coming against Arcata in Big 5 play.

Eurekas defense has been great this season, allowing just 33.7 points per game on the season but Florvilus and the Crusaders will again put the Loggers defense to the test.

St-Bernards-Eureka will be the late game on Thursday, with tip-off set for 7:30 p.m.

at College of the Redwoods.

The other game on Thursday will feature the Ferndale Wildcats looking to upset the Arcata Tigers, with tip-off for that one at 6 p.m.

Ferndale got revenge against Hoopa Valley on Tuesday night, with a comfortable 65-40 win on the road to advance to the semifinals.

Just a week ago, Hoopa defeated Ferndale in Ferndale 68-61, which allowed the Warriors to tie the Wildcats at 3-3 in the Little 4 standings.

Wildcats junior Tinnley Pidgeon scored 24 points to lead Ferndale with junior Michaela Ellsmore adding 15 points in the win.

Ferndale is now 14-8 and won two in a row heading into the Niclai semifinals.

Arcata heads to the Niclai owning a 17-6 record.

The Tigers have yet to lose to an H-DNL team this season but they have only faced one Little 4 team (Hoopa Vaelly) so far this season.

The Tigers defensive pressure never wavers as juniors Tae and Mae Wolford and seniors Mayleah Jackson and Addison Wingate give plenty of depth and experience to Arcata.

In MaxPreps rankings, which were updated Tuesday, Eureka is the top team in the H-DNL with Arcata in second and St.

Bernards in third.

The rankings have Ferndale at seventh in the area below the three aforementioned schools and the other three schools in the Big 5 with McKinleyville, Del Norte and Fortuna slotting in ahead of the Wildcats.

The two semifinal matchups in the boys tournament is Wednesday, with Hoopa and Arcata squaring off in the 6 p.m.

game before McKinleyville and St.

Bernards face off at 7:30 p.m.

Arcata has lost just once to H-DNL teams this year, an early-season loss to McKinleyville that occurred before the Tigers got their full roster due to a lengthy postseason run by the Arcata football team.

Since the loss in December to McKinleyville, the Tigers have gone 8-0 against local teams.

The Hoopa Warriors (15-9) go into Wednesdays game winners of two in a row after beating Ferndale twice with senior Brandon Romero scoring a combined 46 points in the two wins for Hoopa.

McKinleyville (19-8) defeated Eureka in the quarterfinals to match up against St.

Bernards, setting the second game between the schools this year, with McKinleyville winning the first matchup 45-39.

Junior Neil Moon scored 25 points for the Panthers in their win over the Loggers with junior Bode Douglass scoring 17 points and senior Cole Armstrong adding 14.

St.

Bernards is 19-4 on the season and won five in a row entering Wednesdays game, with McKinleyville being the only H-DNL team to beat St.

Bernards this season.

Last year, the Crusaders lost to Arcata in the Niclai championship game and the team is hoping to get back to the championship game with a win on Wednesday.

Arcata owns the top spot in MaxPreps rankings, with McKinleyville at two and St.

Bernards at three.

Hoopa sits at sixth, right behind Eureka and Del Norte.

Dylan McNeill can be reached at 707-441-0526..

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