By Ray Hamill — The Dick Niclai tournaments never seem to disappoint.

One day after a thrilling first-round boys matchup between McKinleyville and Fortuna, Arcata and St. Bernard’s gave us more of the same in Wednesday’s girls semifinal at College of the Redwoods.

Playing in front of a large crowd, the SB girls rallied late for a 52-49 victory in a physical and hard-fought showdown.

The Crusaders țrailed for much of the night with the Tigers leading by as many as nine points in the third quarter and holding an eight-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.

But with their opponents in foul trouble late, the St. Bernard’s girls battled back in the final period to pull out the victory and send them back to the Niclai final for the first time since 2018.

Laila Florvilus once again led the way offensively for the winners and scored a game-high 25 points, while teammate Madelyn Shanahan also was instrumental in the win with another big performance in the paint.

Junior Aliyah Vigil also helped key the late rally with all six of her points coming in a crucial spell in the fourth quarter.

Check out our game highlights above …

Friday night’s championship game against Eureka will take place at Lumberjack Arena and is set for 6 p.m.

The Crusaders will be playing for a first-ever girls tournament championship, while the Loggers are the three-time defending Niclai champs.

St. Bernard’s is looking to become the seventh H-DNL school to win a tournament championship, following in the footsteps of Arcata, McKinleyville, Eureka, Fortuna, Del Norte and South Fork.

The game will be broadcast live on The Beat 95.1 FM.

Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Action from Wednesday’s game between St. Bernard’s and Arcata.