Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Ferndale’s Michaela Ellsmore, left, and St. Bernard’s Laila Florvilus are the Humboldt Sports Dick Niclai Tournament Players of the Day after big performances by both players in Thursday’s semifinals.

By Ray Hamill — It was another fun day of Dick Niclai tournament action at College of the Redwoods on Thursday night.

In girls semifinal action, Arcata got the better of a Ferndale team that refused to go down easily by a score of 59-45, while St. Bernard’s won a thriller against crosstown rival Eureka 48-44.

There were, of course, several standout performances on the night on all four teams involved, but two stood out.

Ferndale’s Michaela Ellsmore epitomized her team’s fighting spirit more than anyone and inspired her teammates in a matchup against the Big 5 champions.

Likewise with Laila Florvilus, who is not only the best girls basketball player in the H-DNL right now but also has established herself as one of the best team leaders in the league.

And that makes our choice for tournament players of the day.

Florvilus made a couple of clutch late free throws to help her team over the finish line in what was an exciting end to a game that went right down to the wire.

But that’s not all.

In addition to scoring a team-high 15 points, 11 of them in the second half, she also turned in an outstanding defensive performance.

According to head coach Matt Tomlin, the senior approached the coach at halftime and asked him to put her on Eureka standout Tiara Maualuga on defense.

The coach duly obliged and Florvilus would hold one of the best players in the league scoreless over the final two quarters, which ultimately was the difference in the game.

Florvilus and her teammates will now play for the Dick Niclai championship against Arcata on Friday night.

Ellsmore, meanwhile, was equally effective for the Cats in a losing effort against Arcata.

The outstanding junior has been one of the best players in the Little 4 this winter and that continued to be the case in Thursday’s tournament semifinal.

Ellsmore finished with a game-high 21 points and was on fire from downtown, nailing six 3-pointers to help keep her team in contention throughout.

The local season may have ended for Ellsmore and the Wildcats but the highly-ranked Division-6 team is poised to make some noise in the upcoming North Coast Section playoffs and perhaps beyond that as well.