Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Action from Saturday’s game at Arcata High.

By Ray Hamill — This time there was no need for any late excitement.

After two close finishes in their first two NorCal basketball playoff games, each of which was decided by a single possession, the Arcata girls thoroughly dominated Notre Dame in Saturday night’s semifinal, leading wire to wire and cruising to a 47-24 victory.

The Regents out of San Jose were coming off back-to-back upset road victories in their two state playoff games but they were never really in this one, as the home team continued its remarkable playoff run and moved within one victory of playing for a state championship.

Sophomore twin sisters Mae and Tae Wolford helped set the early tone from the opening tip and never relented.

Mae scored nine of her game-high 18 points in the opening quarter, as the Tigers quickly opened up a 13-4 lead, while her sister was a beast on defense and held the visitors’ chief scoring threat to just six points.

“I told Tae your entire day is locking her up and she did that,” Arcata head coach Charlie Espinoza said. “She was dialed into the game plan.”

The Tigers, who are peaking at a very opportune time, dominated in just about every aspect of the game and quickly stretched the advantage to 12 by halftime.

They continued to frustrate the visitors at both ends of the court in the third, especially on defense, and pushed the lead to an insurmountable 25 points after three quarters.

After that, there was no way back for the Regents and Espinoza was able to go deep to his bench in the final period to give some of his younger players some valuable playoff experience.

Defensively, the Tigers held a poor-shooting Notre Dame team to just three field goals until well into the fourth quarter, including a spell of almost 15 minutes without a basket and a one-point third quarter.

“That’s something we’ve been hanging our hat on all year, is our defense,” the coach added. “We always do a good job of maintaining our defensive presence.”

And when you add some stellar offense to the equation, the Tigers are a tough team to stop.

Senior leader Nora Talty also had a good night and added 13 points on her birthday, as she continues to close out her high school career with a big playoff run.

“We got a win for her on her birthday,” Espinoza added with a chuckle.

In a win like this, you always have several standouts and that was the case for the Arcata girls.

Kyndle Eisner also had a big night as the Tigers never allowed the Regents to penetrate the paint, while Addison Wingate and Mayleah Jackson also gave their coach some valuable minutes throughout.

Off the bench, sophomore Zalayshia Velazquez impressed late.

“She works so hard for us in practice,” Espinoza said of Velazquez.

With the win, the Tigers improved to 22-8 and they will play either St. Bernard’s or Foothill in Wednesday night’s Division-4 NorCal championship game here on the North Coast.

“I’m grateful for the community support,” head coach Charlie Espinoza said. “We just want to represent this community the best we can and we want to take this as far as we can.”

The other semifinal was postponed on Saturday because Foothill opted not to travel to the coast because of the severe weather conditions.

That game will now take place on Monday, with the NorCal decider now pushed back from Tuesday to Wednesday.

No matter who wins the other semifinal, the NorCal championship will be played here in Humboldt County, either at St. Bernard’s, if the Crusaders win, or at Arcata, if Foothill wins.

In other state playoff action on Saturday, the Trinity girls lost their Division-5 semifinal, falling 53-45 to Crystal Springs Upland.