Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Nora Talty and the Arcata girls received the No. 2 seed for the Dick Niclai tournament and will open against rivals McKinleyville on Monday.

By Ray Hamill — The Dick Niclai tournament gets under way on Monday with a pair of games in the girls bracket, as well two additional boys games to determine seeds for the five-day event.

As co-champions of the Big 5, the Arcata and McKinleyville boys will face off on Monday night for the No. 1 seed in tournament play as well as the conference’s automatic North Coast Section berth.

The game will be played at McKinleyville after a coin toss and tip off is set for 7:30 p.m.

The winner will get a first-round tournament bye, while the loser will be seeded No. 2 and will host No. 3 Fortuna in the opening round of the tournament the following night.

Also on Monday night, the Ferndale and Hoopa boys will meet in a play-in game after they tied for third in the Little 4.

Tip off is set for 6 p.m. and the game will take place at Ferndale after the Wildcats won a coin toss to determine home court.

The winner of that game will receive a No. 3 seed and will play a first-round game the following night at No. 2 South Fork.

The five-day tournament features opening rounds on Monday (girls) and Tuesday (boys), with those games hosted by the No. 2 seeds, with the top-seeded teams all getting a first-round bye.

The semifinals will be played at College of the Redwoods on Wednesday (girls) and Thursday (boys), with the championship games taking place on Friday night at Cal Poly Humboldt’s Lumberjack Arena.

Monday’s action sees the No. 3 McKinleyville girls travel to No. 2 Arcata, with tip off set for 5 p.m. in order to accommodate fans who want to take in the Arcata/Mack boys game as well.

The winner of that game will play the St. Bernard’s girls in Wednesday’s semifinal round at 7:30 p.m.

Also on Monday, the No. 2 Ferndale girls will host No. 3 Hoopa at 7:30 p.m. at Ferndale High as part of a doubleheader with the schools’ boys teams.

The Wildcats and Warriors tied for second in the Little 4, but the Wildcats will host Monday’s game after winning a coin toss.

The winner of that game will advance to play the Eureka girls on Wednesday night at 6 p.m.

The boys tournament gets under way on Tuesday night, with the loser of Monday’s Arcata/Mack game hosting Fortuna at 7 p.m.

Also on Tuesday at 7, as previously mentioned, South Fork will host the winner of the play-in game between Ferndale and Hoopa.

The winner of Monday’s Arcata/Mack boys game, meanwhile, will open tournament play in the semifinal round on Thursday against either South Fork, Ferndale or Hoopa at 6 p.m., while Little 4 champion St. Bernard’s will play either Arcata, McKinleyville or Fortuna at 7:30 p.m. in the second boys semifinal.

Friday’s championship games are set for 6 p.m. (girls) and 7:30 p.m. (boys), with doors opening at 5.

HDN, NCS and CIF passes will be accepted for games Monday through Thursday, although school passes will not be accepted.

Those games will also feature regular season admission prices.

For Friday’s championship games, only NCS and CIF passes will be accepted and admission is $10, with children five and under free.

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