Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Fans were lined up all around the court in a packed house at CR on Wednesday.

By Ray Hamill — The St. Bernard’s and Arcata girls weren’t the only ones to impress at College of the Redwoods on Wednesday night.

Both schools’ student sections also did themselves proud, with their collective back-and-forth chanting energizing the sold-out gym and making for as good an atmosphere as I can ever remember at a girls basketball game here on the North Coast.

The packed gyn was treated to an epic battle between the last two standing local high school teams and it was a game that went down to final seconds, with the Crusaders rallying late for a 60-54 win.

It was a game that will long be remembered here on the North Coast and not just because it was the first-ever all-local NorCal final.

Anyone who was lucky enough to attend will remember the incredible atmosphere just as much.

The electricity in the arena began to build long before the opening tip-off and the noise and intensity never relented all night, both on and off the court.

So who had the better night? The Arcata student section or the St. Bernard’s student section?

Over the past few seasons while I’ve been covering local high school basketball, the Tigers have always been one of the loudest and most engaging student sections in the county, but on Wednesday the smaller school matched them all the way and no doubt helped lift their players to a third regional crown in 10 years.

As I’ve mentioned before, the H-DNL was the real winner on Wednesday.

“What an environment tonight,” St. Bernard’s head coach Matt Tomlin said. “That was a celebration of basketball in Humboldt County.”

And it was a fitting way to close out a phenomenal girls basketball season here on the North Coast.

There is, of course, one more game to go, with St. Bernard’s now advancing to play for the Division-4 state championship against Grossmont in Sacramento on Saturday morning.

Tip off is set for 10 a.m.