File photo – Arcata’s Tae Wolford

The Arcata Tigers lost their North Coast Section girls basketball playoff game at St. Patrick-St. Vincent on Wednesday night, falling 57-49 to the top seeds in the Division-4 bracket.

And according to head coach Charlie Espinoza, the players fought hard all night in a fun environment.

“We had a battle in Vallejo,” Espinoza said. “It was a great atmosphere for playoff basketball.”

Despite the road trip the Arcata girls came ready to play and led by four points (37-33) after the opening half.

The Tigers used their team speed to their advantage.

“We came in ready to run,” Espinoza said. “We knew we wanted to score in transition and force them to play faster than they wanted.”

The strategy appeared to work, at both ends of the floor.

“We had a great first half and we executed the game plan,” the coach added. “In the third we played well, holding them to six points, but we couldn’t find stretches to score either.”

The home team, however, would pull away late and outscored the Tigers 18-6 in the fourth quarter to advance to a weekend championship showdown against No. 2 University.

The Wolford sisters led the way for the Tigers.

Tae Wolford finished with 15 points and seven rebounds, while Mae Wolford had 11 points and six rebounds.

The loss for the Tigers ends any hope of a section championship, but the season will go on.

The Tigers will now turn their attention to next week’s state playoffs and they will find out their bracket, seed and opening-round opponent on Sunday.

“I’m very proud of the team and we left with our heads high,” Espinoza said. “We are excited for next week’s state playoff run.”

File photo