Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Carli Baum in action for the Crusaders on Thursday night.

By Ray Hamill — The St. Bernard’s and Eureka girls served up an instant classic in their Dick Niclai tournament semifinal, played in front of a large crowd at College of the Redwoods on Thursday night.

In a rematch of last year’s highly-entertaining tournament final, this was a game that ebbed and flowed and featured numerous lead changes.

And it was the Crusaders who held their nerve late, with team captains Aliyah Vigil and Laila Florvilus nailing some clutch free throws in the final minute to secure a 48-44 win and advance to Friday’s championship game at Lumberjack Arena.

The loss ends the Loggers’ impressive four-year reign as Dick Niclai champs.

“That was a great game between two really good basketball teams,” St. Bernard’s head coach Matt Tomlin said. “I have so much respect for (Eureka) coach (Cliff) Napoleon and his program. It’s a remarkable feat to win four Niclai tournaments in a row.”

Napoleon echoed the sentiment.

“What a fun game to be a part of,” he said. “At any point it could have gone either way. Fun game.”

The Crusaders will play the Arcata Tigers in Friday’s tourney decider in a rematch of last year’s epic NorCal championship game.

This will be the first meeting between the two schools since that thrilling showdown, which the Crusaders won just days before they would clinch a first-ever state championship for the H-DNL.

It’s also a matchup between the most successful program in Niclai tournament history, boys or girls (a record 11 tournament championships), and a St. Bernard’s program that will be playing for its first-ever Niclai trophy.

“(Arcata’s) coach (Charlie) Espinoza and coach (Eddy) Vainuku do a great job, and the Wolford sisters (Tae and Mae) are outstanding basketball players,” Tomlin said of the Tigers. “So we’re looking forward to it.”

Both teams are undefeated conference champions and will carry plenty of momentum into the big showdown.

Thursday’s win was the 17th straight for the SB girls, who improved to 26-1 on the season, while the Tigers have won nine of their last 10 games and are 18-6 on the year.

Earlier in the night, the Tigers defeated Ferndale 59-45.

The later matchup was not just the best of the night, it was the best we’ve seen in this year’s Niclai tournament.

An entertaining and back-and-forth opening half featured five lead changes and the Loggers carried a four-point lead (25-21) into halftime.

A low-scoring third quarter saw both teams combine for just six points from play and Eureka’s lead was down to three (31-28) heading into the fourth.

And that’s when things really got interesting.

A Mallorie Beauchamp 3-pointer in the opening seconds quickly stretched Eureka’s lead to five, but baskets by St. Bernard’s Florvilus and CJ Figas, the latter a 3-pointer, tied things up again at 33-33.

Olivianna Millender would re-take the lead for the Big 5 school with a little under six minutes to go, but a 3-point play by outstanding freshman point guard Carli Baum would give the SB girls the narrowest of leads heading into the stretch run.

Florvilus, who was as composed as anyone on the court late in the game, stretched the Crusaders’ lead to three (38-35) with a little over three minutes remaining.

Impressive Eureka sophomore center Alena Battle then capped a big night with a pair of free throws and a basket to keep her team in contention, with St. Bernard’s Samantha Sundberg nailing her third 3-pointer of the night in between.

Eureka’s Nashaya Williams would tie the game at 41-41 with just under a minute remaining, before some clutch late free throws from the Little 4 school helped see them over the line.

Baum, who also hit two late free throws, played well beyond her years, as she has for much of the season, and she created scoring opportunities for the Crusaders when they needed them the most.

And she did it in the biggest game of her young career.

“We were really stagnant offensively for a couple of quarters, and I can’t say enough about Carli Baum,” Tomlin said. “She really kept us in the game.”

The young standout finished with eight points, all of them crucial.

Florvilus, who was held to just four points in the opening half, finished with a team-high 15 points, but it was her performance at the other end of the floor that really made the difference.

At halftime, the senior leader asked Tomlin if she could guard Eureka standout Tiara Maualuga for the second half, and she would hold the Loggers standout scoreless over the final two quarters.

“Just an amazing performance by her,” Tomlin said.

Sundberg also had a huge night for the SB girls, setting the tone with a first-minute 3-pointer and finishing with 11 points, including three 3s.

St. Bernard’s Figas also had two huge 3s.

Samara Gaither led the way offensively for the Loggers and scored a game-high 16 points, including 12 in the opening half, while Battle, whose impact on her team has grown in recent weeks, added eight points, including the clutch late scores.

Maualuga, who got in foul trouble in the second half, added seven points, all of them in the opening two quarters.

Friday’s championship game is set for 6 p.m.