Submitted photo – The South Fork girls celebrate their playoff win on Wednesday night.

It was a busy night for the H-DNL with eight of the league’s teams in action in the North Coast Section playoffs.

And it was a good night for six of them, including the South Fork girls, who won their Division-6 playoff opener at Calistoga.

Senior Caidence Young, who is closing out her high school career in style, led the No. 9 seeded South Fork girls to a 36-33 win against the No. 8 seeds in the bracket.

Also on Wednesday night, the No. 5 McKinleyville girls took care of business in their Division-4 matchup against Branson, winning 40-28 to set up a quarterfinal against the Arcata Tigers, who advanced after Ygnacio Valley forfeited, while in the same bracket No. 7 Del Norte beat No. 10 Fortuna 54-48.

In boys playoff action, the Arcata Tigers comfortably beat Middletown 70-42, while McKinleyville beat Eureka 74-57.

And rounding out a busy night for the H-DNL, the Fortuna boys fell 79-74 to Terra Linda.

At Calistoga, the Cubs start slowly and trailed 11-4 after the opening quarter, but they began to settle into the game in the second quarter and carried a one-point lead into the break.

Young had an exceptional night and scored a game-high 25 points.

“Caidence had the best game of her senior season,” head coach Rebecca Robles said. 

Raelyn Hawkins added four points in the win, as the Cubs advance to play at No. 1 seed San Francisco Waldorf in Saturday’s quarterfinals.

Senior Cloe McConnell and junior Arianna Trigonis were both also instrumental in the win with some strong defense.

At Del Norte, meanwhile, junior Lauren Stutes had a career night to help lead the Warriors to a playoff-opening win.

Stutes scored a game-high 17 points with some clutch free throws in the fourth quarter to help seal the win.

Teammate Jacalyn Gorbet battled through some foul trouble and had a big second half on her way to finishing with 14 points, while Anyessa Bettega continued her recent good form and added 12 points.

“I’m proud of how the girls battled,” head coach Dylan Nelson said. 

Khloe Smith rounded out a good all-around night for the team with seven points.

Nelson also praised the play of the Fortuna girls, who “played their hearts out,” he said.

Mariah Bravo scored a team-high 15 points for the Huskies, while Kalie Chittenden added eight points and both Maleesa Miles and Allie Cox each added five points.

“The girls played hard,” Fortuna head coach Tom Chapman said. “I am really proud of their effort. They fought until the end.”

Chapman also praised this players for their efforts this season.

“They are an amazing group of student-athletes and I am excited for their future,” he said.

The Del Norte girls will play at No. 2 seed University in Saturday’s quarterfinals.

At Fortuna, meanwhile, the Division-4 boys game went down to the wire, with the visitors taking a hard-fought five-point win.

Jake Houseworth scored a team-high 21 points for the Huskies, while teammate Alfonso Medina added 18 points, including a pair of 3-pointers.

The game was tied 69-69 late and just three points separated the two sides going into the final minute.

The visitors, however, had the better of exchanges down the stretch to sneak the win and set up a quarterfinal showdown at No. 3 Urban.

Russell Pascascio also had a good game for Fortuna and finished with 15 points, while teammate Kobe Spaulding added 11 points, including a couple of big 3s, and Kallen Barrote had seven points.