Photo by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The St. Bernard’s girls in action against Dougherty Valley on Tuesday night.

By Ray Hamill — The North Coast Section announced on Wednesday morning that both Fortuna and St. Bernard’s will advance to next week’s state playoffs in girls basketball.

The two local schools both lost their NCS Division-3 semifinals on Tuesday night to set up a third-place showdown between them on Friday night.

That game was supposed to decide which one of the two teams would advance to the state playoffs along with Tuesday’s semifinal winners, Dougherty Valley and Saint Mary’s.

However, after their semifinal win, the Saint Mary’s girls notified the NCS they are opting not to play in next week’s tournament.

That means the three NorCal berths from the Division-3 NCS field will now go to Dougherty Valley, St. Bernard’s and Fortuna.

No reason was immediately given for the Panthers’ opting out.

The third-place game between the Crusaders and Huskies, which has seedings implications, will still go ahead as scheduled.

That game will take place at St. Bernard’s at 7 p.m.

The SB and Fortuna girls will join the Ferndale girls and St. Bernard’s boys in the NorCal tournaments, meaning four of the 18 H-DNL varsity programs will get the opportunity to play for a possible NorCal title.

Tuesday’s game between St. Bernard’s and Dougherty Valley went right down to the wire, with the Wildcats prevailing balance 47-45.

The Huskies lost their semifinal at Saint Mary’s by a score of 63-36.

The NCS playoff action continues on Wednesday night with a pair of Division-6 semifinals here in Humboldt County.

The No. 1 seeded Ferndale girls will host No. 5 St. Vincent de Paul and the No. 1 St. Bernard’s boys will host No. 5 Mendocino.

Both games are set for 7 p.m.

The state playoffs begin next Tuesday, with the NorCal and SoCal finals set for the following Tuesday and all state championship games taking place the weekend of March 15.

The state playoff brackets will be announced on Sunday.

Submitted photo – Fortuna head coach Tom Chapman talks to his players during Friday night’s game.