Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Cadence Young in action for the South Fork girls at St. Bernard’s on Friday night.

St. Bernard’s and Ferndale both won their conference openers in girls basketball on Friday night.

The Crusaders cruised to a comfortable 66-15 win over South Fork at St. Bernard’s, while the Wildcats edged Hoopa 49-47 at Ferndale on a Tinnley Pidgeon buzzer-beater.

The game at Ferndale was a back-and-forth affair, with the host school having the final say and pulling out the all-important conference win.

Trailing by six with a minute remaining, the Ferndale girls tied things up on back-to-back 3-pointers by Pidgeon and Michaela Ellsmore and then secured the victory when Reaghan Langer broke the Hoopa press with a pass to Pidgeon, who scored the winning basket on a layup.

“It was really exciting,” Ferndale head coach Chris Ardrey said. “I’m super proud of the kids.”

The loss ended a seven-game winning streak for the Hoopa girls, who rallied from a nine-point halftime deficit with a 13-0 run in the third quarter.

Ivy Lamebear led the Warriors with 16 points, including four 3-pointers, while Tashee Tracy finished with nine points and freshman Wau’Kel Blake added eight points.

Harmony Nelson also had six points for the visitors, who dropped to 0-1 in the Little 4 and 8-4 overall.

Pidgeon scored a game-high 17 points for Ferndale, which improved to 1-0 in conference and 9-3 overall, while Ellsmore continued her standout season with 11 points.

It was an impressive performance for the young Wildcats, who have four starting sophomores — Pidgeon, Ellsmore, Clara Albee and Madison Gossi.

They also got a big performance out of freshman Gianna Regli, who did a “fantastic job” guarding Hoopa’s Tracy in the paint, according to her coach.

The Ferndale players came out ready to play with a big first half, but they were unable to maintain that as the Warriors settled into the game.

“I thought in the first half we played almost our ‘A’ game, and in the second half we were trying not to miss shots, and when you try not to miss, you’re guaranteed to miss,” Ardrey said.

St. Bernard’s, meanwhile, won with a balanced offense with seven players scoring six or more points.

Laila Florvilus and Rihanna Fontenot each scored a team-high 10 points in the win, while Hannah Finck and Samantha Sundberg both finished with eight points.

Jocelyn Sundberg added seven points and Madelyn Shanahan and Ella Hart each chipped in six points.

Makinsey Lemley also had a good game and finished with five points for SB.

The Cubs were led offensively by senior Caidence Young, who scored a game-high 13 points.

The Cubs dropped to 0-1 in conference and 8-6 overall.

Next up, the Crusaders host Trinity in non-league action on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m., while the Cubs will host Ferndale next Friday.

The Hoopa girls will try to bounce back when they travel to play Del Norte on Tuesday.