Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Fortuna’s Morgan Murray, left, and Eureka’s Bella Vigil.

By Ray Hamill — Adding to the intrigue of Thursday night’s girls basketball matchup between the Loggers and Huskies, there was little to separate the two teams in this week’s Humboldt Sports poll asking North Coast fans which team will win this year’s Big 5.

In fact, there was a difference of just one vote between the two frontrunners, with Del Norte a not-too-distant third.

And that just about sums up how most fans feel about a league race that is expected to go down to the wire.

Thursday night’s game between the Loggers and Huskies at Fortuna will be the biggest of the year so far on the North Coast.

The Huskies are 15-1 and riding a very impressive nine-game winning streak, while the Loggers are 14-4 after playing a tougher schedule than any other H-DNL team.

Each won their conference opener on Tuesday, with the Huskies edging McKinleyville 33-25 in a very defensive game, and Eureka coming away from Crescent City with a 62-56 win over Del Norte.

But according to North Coast sports fans, Fortuna will be the team to beat after barely edging out Eureka with 34 percent of the votes to 33, with just a single vote out of almost 100 separating the two.

The Del Norte girls came in third with 25 percent of the votes.

In Big 5 boys basketball, North Coast sports fans believe Del Norte will win the title after receiving 42.4 percent of the votes, with Eureka second favorite (26 percent), and Arcata third (17.3 percent).

In the Little 4, the St. Bernard’s Crusaders are overwhelming favorites to win both the boys and girls conference championships.

For the boys, St. Bernard’s received 60.2 percent of the votes, followed by Ferndale with 20.6 percent.

South Fork and Hoopa were neck and neck, with each receiving just under 10 percent of the votes.

For the girls, St. Bernard’s received an overwhelming 86.4 percent of the votes, with Hoopa a distant second favorite.