Ray Hamill/Humboldt Sports.com – Del Norte’s Jadence Clifton in action at McKinleyville on Friday night.

UPDATED – According to the league office on Saturday morning, the Arcata girls will host McKinleyville on Monday if they win at Del Norte

By Ray Hamill — Let the playoffs begin. Or in this case, the playoffs for the playoffs.

With a three-way tie for third place in the Big 5 in girls basketball, there will now be a three-team, two-game playoff to see which of them gets the No. 3 seed for next week’s Dick Niclai tournament.

And the action gets under way immediately, with Arcata traveling to play Del Norte in Crescent City on Saturday night.

Tip off is set for 7 p.m.

The winner of that game will play McKinleyville on Monday night.

If Arcata wins, they will host Mack because they have a 2-0 league record against the Panthers, whereas if Del Norte wins the McKinleyville girls will host, courtesy of their 2-0 league record against the Warriors.

If that game is at Arcata, it will be played as part of a doubleheader with the boys, who host Eureka in their opening round matchup, with the girls tipping off at 6 p.m. and the boys at 7:30 p.m.

Also in the opening round of the boys tournament on Monday, South Fork hosts Ferndale, with the winner advancing to play at Del Norte in one of Wednesday’s semifinals. The winner of the Arcata and Eureka game will play at St. Bernard’s in the other semifinal.

The girls tournament gets under way on Tuesday, with Eureka hosting either Del Norte, Arcata or McKinleyville, and Ferndale playing Hoopa.

The winners of those two games will advance to play at St. Bernard’s and Fortuna on Thursday.

All of the games from Tuesday through Thursday are scheduled for 7 p.m.

Both championship games will be played at Lumberjack Arena on Friday night.