Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The St. Bernard’s girls are seeded No. 1 in the Division-3 bracket for the NCS playoffs.

By Ray Hamill — The North Coast Section basketball playoff brackets were announced on Sunday, with 13 of the 18 H-DNL varsity programs qualifying, including seven girls teams.

Three local teams have received a top seed in their brackets, each of whom has an opening-round bye, and nine of the 13 teams will open at home.

The St. Bernard’s boys and girls and the Ferndale girls are all seeded No. 1.

Fresh off their memorable Dick Niclai championship win on Friday, the SB girls received the top seed in the D-3 field and will host either No. 8 San Domenico or No. 9 Benicia on Saturday.

The Ferndale girls also received the top seed in the eight-team Division-6 tournament and will open at home against No. 8 Victory Christian Academy on Saturday.

All eight teams in the girls D-6 bracket received an opening-round bye and automatically advance to the quarterfinals.

The St. Bernard’s boys are also the top seeds in the Division-6 bracket and will host either No. 8 San Francisco Waldorf or No. 9 Round Valley on Saturday.

The other 10 local teams to make the postseason will all open on either Tuesday or Wednesday night, including a doubleheader of action at McKinleyville High School on Wednesday.

After their memorable Dick Niclai championship on Friday, the Mack boys are seeded No. 6 in Division 2 and will host No. 11 Marin Catholic at 5:30 p.m., followed by the McKinleyville girls, who are seeded No. 5 in Division 2 and will host No. 12 Heritage at 7.

Both Arcata teams, who each won this year’s Big 5, are included in the Division-1 brackets.

The Arcata girls received the No. 3 seed and will host No. 14 Montgomery on Tuesday at 7 p.m., while the Arcata boys are seeded No. 12 and will open on the road at No. 5 Alameda on Tuesday at 7 despite winning their conference.

The McKInleyville boys will open the NCS playoffs at home on Wednesday night.

Alameda also is a league champion.

Both Eureka teams also qualified for the section playoffs.

The Eureka girls received the No. 4 seed in Division 1 and will host No. 13 Washington on Tuesday night, also at 7, while the Eureka boys are seeded No. 11 in Division 3 and will open at No. 6 Berkeley, also on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

In Division-5 boys action, the Del Norte Warriors received a favorable No. 3 seed and will host No. 14 Justin-Siena on Tuesday night at 7, while the Hoopa Warriors are seeded No. 9 and will travel to play No. 8 Athenian, also on Tuesday at 7.

The Fortuna and Hoopa girls teams also qualified for the postseason and both received No. 6 seeds.

The Fortuna girls will play No. 11 Kelseyville in Division 3 on Tuesday at 7 p.m., but they will have to travel for the game because Kelseyville is a league champions.

This will be a rematch of a game in January, which the Huskies won on the road, 32-30.

The Hoopa girls, meanwhile, will open at home against No. 11 Tamalpais on Wednesday at 7.