Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Mae Wolford in action for the Tigers on Tuesday night.

By Ray Hamill — The Arcata Tigers celebrated their seniors in style on Tuesday night.

After honoring the class of seven seniors before tip off, the Arcata girls took care of business on the court with a 65-49 win over the visiting Fortuna Huskies.

The victory was their sixth in six Big 5 games and secured a second straight outright conference championship with two games remaining.

The win also secures a top seed and opening-round bye for the upcoming Dick Niclai tournament.

“Another fun night,” said Arcata head coach Charlie Espinoza, whose team has now won eight straight and is 14-3 overall. “We had a wonderful senior night, and it was a very special night celebrating the magnificent seven.”

The senior class includes sisters Tae and Mae Wolford, Mia Cueto, Kelty Barker, Lucy Dieker, Izzy Allen and Syriah George.

The Huskies, to their credit, remained in contention for much of the night and battled the conference leaders all the way to the final buzzer.

Some defensive lapses, however, proved costly.

“For the most part we played well against an excellent Arcata team,” Fortuna head coach Tom Chapman said. “We broke down defensively too many times, but Arcata shot the ball very well tonight.

“We need to get better at defending dribble penetration.”

Tae Wolford led the way for the home team and finished with a game-high 22 points, as well as seven rebounds, while Cueto celebrated Senior Night with one of her best offensive games of the season, finishing with 20 points, including six 3-pointers.

Mae Wolford also impressed and finished with a double-double, scoring 11 points and pulling down 16 rebounds.

Arcata’s Betty Miles added five points, Anevay Gruetzmacher had four points and Kyla Kinyon chipped in three points.

The Arcata girls have now won 15 straight conference games dating back to February of 2024.

Fortuna freshman Kaleya Parkinson continued her impressive debut season at the high school level and finished with a double-double.

The young standout scored 11 points and pulled down 11 rebounds.

Tatiana Olson added nine points for the Huskies, who dropped to 1-4 in the Big 5 and 15-7 overall, while Jaydyn Dalton added eight points and five rebounds.

Another Fortuna freshman, Olivia Powell, also impressed, painting a bright future for the team.

Powell made her presence felt on the boards and finished with nine rebounds, as well as six points.

“Overall, I am pleased with the energy and effort of our team,” Chapman said. “We must keep that going in the second half of league play.”

Next up, on Thursday night the Huskies will host McKinleyville in a key matchup in the chase for a Niclai tournament berth, while Arcata will have a week off before making the short trip to play at rival McKinleyville next Tuesday.