Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The St. Bernard’s girls celebrate their regional championship on Wednesday night.

By Ray Hamill — After their big win over Arcata in the NorCal final on Wednesday night, the St. Bernard’s girls will now quickly turn their attention to Saturday’s Division-4 state championship game.

The Crusaders, who defeated Arcata 60-54 in the regional decider, will play Grossmont out of San Diego County in Sacramento on Saturday.

The SB girls are hoping to become the first-ever H-DNL team to win a true state championship and are just the second-ever league team to play for one, following in the footsteps of the Hoopa boys, who made it this far all the way back in 2000.

The big showdown will tip off at 10 a.m. in the Golden 1 Center, the home of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings.

So who are the Grossmont Foothillers and how did they get here?

The Grossmont girls defeated Fallbrook 57-52 in the D-4 SoCal final on Tuesday.

Like St. Bernard’s, they are playing for a first-ever state championship and they are 27-8.

But unlike St. Bernard’s, Grossmont is a school of approximately 2,800 students.

As you would expect from a state finalist, the Foothillers will carry plenty of momentum into Saturday’s big showdown, having won four straight games and nine of their last 10.

They were the No. 4 seeds in the 16-team SoCal Division-4 bracket.

The Crusaders, meanwhile, are one of 17 H-DNL teams to play in a NorCal final and are now 3-1 all-time in the regional championship games.

The SB girls previously won back-to-back NorCal Division-6 titles in 2015 and 2016, while also losing the 2019 D-5 final.

Current head coach Matt Tomlin guided the Crusaders to their previous NorCal titles, but was not the head coach in 2019.

However, this is the first time he has guided a basketball team all the way to a state championship, which is only held in Divisions 1 through 5, as well as in the open division.

As mentioned earlier, the Hoopa boys are the only previous H-DNL team to make it this far and are one of six local teams to have won a regional crown.

In addition to the Warriors and the SB girls, the St. Bernard’s boys also have won Division-6 NorCal titles in 2016 and 2022.

The H-DNL is now 6-12 in regional championship games.

Wednesday’s loss for the Arcata girls was the program’s second NorCal final defeat, having also made it that far in 2014.

The Arcata boys also lost their only NorCal final appearance in 1997, while the Hoopa boys lost finals in 1992 and 1999 and the SB boys lost a final in 1996.

Seven different H-DNL girls teams also have lost NorCal finals.

In addition to the two Arcata final losses and SB’s loss in 2019, McKinleyville has lost three regional championships games (1985, 1987 and 2010), Eureka lost its lone appearance in the NorCal final in 1989, as did South Fork in 1995.

Tickets for Saturday’s big showdown are available through Ticketmaster or at the Golden 1 Center Box Office. 

Ticket prices are $16 for adults and $10 for seniors (65+), children and high school students with a valid ASB card.

The game will be streamed online on the NFHS Network.