Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The Eureka girls celebrate their Dick Niclai championship at Lumberjack Arena on Friday night.

By Ray Hamill — The Eureka girls are Dick Niclai tournament champions for the fourth straight time after edging St. Bernard’s in an exciting final at Lumberjack Arena on Friday night.

Playing in front of a packed house, the two crosstown rivals served up an enthralling showdown that went down to the final seconds, with the Loggers avenging an earlier loss to the Crusaders with a 45-42 victory.

The tournament championship capped an outstanding H-DNL season that also saw the Eureka girls win a third straight Big 5 championship.

The Loggers led for much of the game, but they were unable to shake the Crusaders, who battled back from an 11-point deficit early in the third quarter and led by one going into the final minute of the game.

However, the Loggers finished the stronger of the two teams and went on a 7-3 run to close out the game to become just the third H-DNL school to win at least four straight girls Niclai tournaments.

“What an exciting game of high school basketball,” Eureka head coach Cliff Napoleon said. “Both teams were battling. From the tip, it was back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.”

St. Bernard’s head coach Matt Tomlin echoed the sentiment.

“That was a great basketball game between just two outstanding basketball teams,” he said. “What a great night to celebrate the H-DN and just how amazing H-DN girls basketball has been this year.

“I tip my hat to coach Napoleon and his players, but I’m super proud of my girls. They just fought from beginning to end. They battled a great basketball team. I’ve never been prouder of my team.”

The Loggers won without starting point guard Oliviana Millender after the standout freshman was injured late in Wednesday’s semifinal win over Hoopa.

In her absence, senior Kaitlin Giacone took on a different role and was outstanding directing her teammates and setting them up to succeed.

Giacone, who is the reigning Big 5 MVP and one of the frontrunners for the award again this year, finished with just two points, but she was hugely influential once again for her team in their biggest game of the year.

“Her job was not to score. Her job was to run the offense,” Napoleon said. “She got people in position and she made great passes, and on defense she was all over the place. KK did everything else but score.”

With Giacone leading the way, the Loggers opened up a quick 9-5 lead in the opening quarter and continued to pull away in the second quarter, stretching their advantage to nine at halftime.

However, just when it appeared as if the game was getting away from them, the Crusaders began to claw their way back and outscored the Big 5 champs 15-10 in the third quarter with Laila Florvilus and Madelyn Shanahan leading the way, as they have all season.

“I can’t say enough about Laila Florvilus and Madelyn Shanahan,” Tomlin said. “They are the heart and soul of this basketball team and they carried us and they brought us back.”

Florvilus scored a game-high 19 points, while Shanahan added nine points and had some inspirational blocks at key moments.

Senior Isis Poteet and junior Samara Gaither were equally impressive for the Loggers and each finished with a team-high 17 points.

Poteet has been an influential team leader all season for Eureka and was key once again on Friday despite cramping up late in the game.

Gaither was huge down the stretch and scored eight of her 17 points in the fourth quarter to help keep the Crusaders at bay.

Freshman Tiara Maualuga also had a big night and finished with nine points as she continues her outstanding debut season at the high school level.

“Everybody contributed,” Napoleon said. “They all had to do a lot.”

Mallorie Beauchamp gave the Loggers some valuable minutes off the bench, as did Baylie Battle, while Maia Hales made her presence felt throughout on the defensive end and is “probably one of our better defenders,” according to Napoleon.

It was also the matchup the Eureka players had hoped for after falling to St. Bernard’s three weeks ago.

“The girls were fired up before the game started,” Napoleon said. “They wanted St. Bernard’s because St. Bernard’s beat us, so they were really excited for the game, and they came out and they kept their emotions under control.

“Today they came out aggressive and left it all out on the court. And that lifted us up.”

The Crusaders also got big performances from sophomore Sahara Tupua, who had six points, and impressive freshman Samantha Sundberg, who continued to shine and finished with seven points.

“She made some big shots in the second half,” Tomlin said of Sundberg.

With the loss, the Crusaders closed out the H-DNL season with a record of 23-4, but as the top-ranked team in NCS Division 5 — and the No. 2 D-5 team in the state — Tomlin believes they are ready for a big playoff run.

The NCS brackets and seeds will be announced on Sunday.

“I fully expect the No. 1 seed,” the coach said. “We just lost to the No. 53 ranked team in the state (overall), and now our goal is to win a state championship.”

The Loggers, who improved to 22-4, are ranked No. 2 in NCS Division 3 and Napoleon expects to probably get the No. 3 seed for the postseason tournament.

We’ll have lots more on Friday’s big showdown, including video highlights, on Saturday.