By Ray Hamill — This week has been a great celebration of local high school basketball, thanks to all of the H-DN schools and College of the Redwoods.

The Dick Niclai boys and girls tournaments have long been one of the most entertaining sporting weeks of the year here on the North Coast and that has been the case once again this season.

The tournament tipped off on Monday night and really got going on Wednesday and Thursday with four highly entertaining semifinals played at College of the Redwoods.

The community college arena offered a perfect backdrop, with the CR athletic department stepping up and hosting the games to make it extra special for the players involved and allowing North Coast fans to check out all of the games at the same venue.

And the fans showed up, with packed houses and a great atmosphere on both nights.

As one local coach put it to me while watching the games, the semifinals were such a success wouldn’t it be nice if the first-round games were also held at CR.

This week was particularly enjoyable after the past two seasons.

The tournament was canceled in 2021 because of the pandemic and only a limited number of fans were permitted at games last year, with the championship showdowns hosted by the higher seeds simultaneously.

This year also sees a return to Lumberjack Arena for the two championship games, which will be held on Friday night at 6 p.m. (girls) and 7:30 p.m. (boys).

Check out some highlights of all four semifinals above …

Ferndale head coach Terra Albee and some of her players react during their semifinal against Eureka on Thursday night.