Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Madelyn Shanahan in action for the Crusaders on Monday night.

By Ray Hamill — An H-DNL team will play for a true state championship in basketball this weekend for the first time since 2000.

The question is which one.

On Monday night, the St. Bernard’s girls won a physical and intense battle with Foothill in the Division-4 NorCal semifinal in Eureka by a score of 49-42 to advance to Wednesday’s championship game against the Arcata Tigers, who won their semifinal against Notre Dame over the weekend.

The winner of Wednesdays’ NorCal final, which will be played at St. Bernard’s, will advance to Saturday’s Division-4 state final in Sacramento.

The Crusaders had to dig deep to beat Foothill in a game that had been postponed from Saturday because of the travel conditions.

There was little to separate the two schools in the opening half, with never more than a five-point gap, and the difference was just a single point at halftime, with the Crusaders leading 24-23.

However, the home team and top seeds in the NorCal D-4 bracket began to pull away in the third quarter and opened up an 11-point advantage late in the period.

But the momentum would shift again and the Cougars closed out the period on a 9-0 run to leave just two points between them going into the fourth quarter.

Both schools struggled to score early in the final period, but with their state championship hopes on the line it was the Crusaders who answered the call and finished the stronger of the two teams to pull out the victory and move on to their fourth NorCal decider in 10 years.

The Sundberg sisters, junior Jocelyn and freshman Samantha, played a key role late and helped spark the Crusaders just when they needed it.

Both sisters finished the game with eight points and they combined to hit back-to-back 3s late in the game as the home team quickly turned a one-point deficit into a five-point lead.

Jocelyn Sundberg

Samantha Sundberg

“When Foothill took a one-point lead, we just responded immediately,” St. Bernard’s head coach Matt Tomlin said. “(Jocelyn and Samantha) stepped up when we needed it. I don’t think we’ve had two bigger shots all season.”

The younger sister also had some big rebounds late in the game to help keep the Foothill offense at bay.

“She’s not playing like a freshman,” Tomlin said. “She’s playing beyond her years and she’s been a superstar for us.”

Moments after the two big 3s, Samantha came up with a steal to set up a layup for teammate Aliyah Vigil, and that put the home team up by seven with just 95 seconds remaining.

Some clutch late free throws by junior Laila Florvilus, who was 6-for-6 from the line in the fourth quarter, helped ice the win down the stretch.

Once again Florvilus was key and finished with a game-high 19 points, including eight of St. Bernard’s 10 points in the third quarter.

Senior Madelyn Shanahan was equally impressive and was dominant in the paint once again, while adding nine points and setting the tone at the defensive end on just about every Foothill possession.

“They ran a lot of pressure at Laila and she still scored 19 points and had (approximately) 15 rebounds,” Tomlin added. “(Shanahan) changed the game on the defensive end with 10 plus blocks.”

Vigil, who has been her team’s most reliable defensive player all season, had another monster game on that side of the ball, containing Foothill standout Lexi Peters.

“Hats off to Aliyah Vigil. For four quarters tonight she guarded Foothill’s best player, Lexi Peters, and I couldn’t be prouder of her,” Tomlin added.

Peters would finish with a team-high 17 points, including two second-half 3s, while teammate Lyndsey Knoch added 10 points.

“It was just an extremely intense game, and Foothill’s a good team and well coached,” Tomlin added. “Hats off to Foothill for a tremendous season.”

The H-DNL has never won a true state championship in basketball and the only team to ever get to a final was the Hoopa boys back in 2000.

However, the St. Bernard’s boys and girls teams have each won a pair of Division-6 NorCal championships within the past decade, and that’s as far as D-6 teams can go because there is no D-6 SoCal championship.

Tomlin will be playing for a third NorCal title in basketball on Wednesday, having guided the St. Bernard’s girls to championships in 2015 and 2016.

He also has guided the Crusaders to a pair of state championships in football and a NorCal championship in baseball.

The Arcata girls have played in just one NorCal championship game in basketball before, losing the final in 2014.

Wednesday’s game will be played at St. Bernard’s at 7 p.m.

“We’re really excited and looking forward to the big game on Wednesday night,” Tomlin said. “And we hope everyone shows up. It’s going to be a great celebration of H-DN basketball.”

College of the Redwoods head coach Ryan Bisio, left, pictured with SB head coach Matt Tomlin

Foothill’s Lexi Peters