Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Isis Poteet in action for the Eureka Loggers on Tuesday night.

By Ray Hamill — A strong finish to the regular season and a good showing at next week’s Dick Niclai tournaments will be key for any H-DNL teams making a final push for a higher seed for the upcoming North Coast Section basketball playoffs.

According to the latest MaxPreps rankings, five local teams are ranked in the top three in their NCS divisions, with several others not that far back.

Leading the way this week are the St. Bernard’s girls, who remain the top-ranked team in Division 5 and could be in line for a top seed when the brackets are announced in 11 days time.

For good measure, the Crusaders are ranked No. 2 in California in Division 5, with Pinewood No. 1.

Remarkably, six of the 18 H-DNL varsity teams are ranked in the top 10 in the entire state in their divisions.

The Arcata and Eureka girls and South Fork boys are all ranked No. 2 in their section divisions.

After clinching a third straight Big 5 championship with a victory over Arcata on Tuesday night, the Eureka girls are No. 2 in Division 3, behind only Cardinal Newman.

The Loggers are No. 7 overall in the NCS, the highest ranking for any local team, and No. 16 among all D-3 schools in California.

The Arcata girls are No. 12 overall in the NCS and No. 2 in Division 4, behind St. Patrick-St. Vincent.

The Tigers, who feature a very young lineup and should only get better in the coming years, are also No. 3 in California in Division 4.

Another team making noise at the state level is the South Fork boys, who are No. 2 in Division 6 in both the NCS and state rankings, trailing Cornerstone Christian in both rankings.

The St. Bernard’s boys are also getting plenty of respect and are No. 3 in NCS Division 5 and No. 4 in the state.

The Crusaders are also the highest ranked local boys team in the overall NCS rankings, coming in at No. 36, nine spots ahead of No. 45 Fortuna, which is the second highest ranked local boys team.

Once again, eight of the nine H-DNL girls teams are ranked in the top eight in their NCS divisions, and all nine are in the top 10.

In addition to the highly ranked SB, Eureka and Arcata girls, the McKinleyville girls are No. 6 in Division 4, followed by No. 7 Del Norte in the same bracket, which gives the H-DNL three of the top seven teams in the bracket.

McKinleyville is also ranked No. 9 in the state in Division 4.

The Hoopa girls, meanwhile, are No. 7 in NCS Division 5 and No. 9 in the state, while the South Fork girls are No. 7 in NCS Division 6.

And rounding out the NCS rankings for the H-DNL girls, Ferndale is No. 8 in Division 5 and Fortuna is No. 10 in Division 4.

Could all nine H-DNL girls teams qualify for the section playoffs? 

All nine appear to be playoff eligible.

The H-DNL boys teams are not quite as highly ranked, but several do feature prominently, with five of the nine schools in the top eight in their NCS divisions.

The Fortuna boys are the highest ranked Big 5 team, coming in at No. 4 in Division 4, followed by No. 6 McKinleyville and No. 8 Arcata in the same division.

The Eureka boys are No. 12 in Division 4.