GIRLS POWER RANKINGS — Plenty of movement this week, including a new No. 1

By barstoolfanatics on January 15, 2025 • ( Leave a comment )

Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The Crusaders are ranked No. 1 in NCS Division 5 and No. 1 in this week’s Humboldt Sports Power Rankings.

By Ray Hamill — The H-DNL girls basketball teams continue to feature among the top-ranked programs in the North Coast Section, according to MaxPreps, as we head towards the business end of the season.

Five of the nine league varsity teams are also ranked in the top nine within their divisions in the state, and two are No. 1 in their divisions in the NCS.

And that means we should see several of them make some noise in this year’s playoffs, much as they did a year ago.

Despite falling to St. Bernard’s in non-conference action on Saturday night, the Eureka girls remain the highest ranked local team overall in the NCS at No. 7 out of 148 schools, followed by St. Bernard’s at No. 12, McKinleyville at No. 17 and Arcata at No. 20.

(We get the feeling MaxPreps could be underestimating the Tigers, but we’ll know more about that in the coming weeks.)

No. 31 Del Norte is the next highest ranked local girls team in the NCS, followed by No. 35 Fortuna, No. 44 Hoopa and No. 47 Ferndale, giving the H-DNL eight teams in the top 47.

The SB girls, who have lost just once all season, are also the No. 1 team in NCS Division 5 and No. 4 in all of California, while an impressive Ferndale team is also No. 1 in NCS Division 6 and No. 4 in the state.

The Eureka girls remain one of the top Division-3 teams in the NCS, coming in this week at No. 2, and are No. 6 in the state.

Four other H-DNL teams also feature in the top eight in their NCS divisions.

Hoopa is No. 3 in Division 5 (No. 9 in the state); McKinleyville is No. 5 in Division 4 (No. 9 in the state); Arcata is No. 6 in Division 3 (No. 14 in the state); and Del Norte is No. 8 in Division 3 (No. 18 in the state).

Fortuna is also No. 11 in NCS Division 4 and South Fork is No. 15 in Division 5.

This week’s Humboldt Sports Power Rankings, meanwhile, feature plenty of movement.

After their big win over Eureka, the St. Bernard’s girls move into No. 1 for the first time this season, while the Loggers drop to No. 2.

The Arcata girls, who have played a tougher pre-conference schedule than many of their league opponents, move up one spot to No. 3 after opening the Big 5 with impressive back-to-back wins last week, while McKinleyville drops one spot to No. 4 and Ferndale moves into our top five after a impressive win against Fortuna last week and another strong showing against McKinleyville.