File photo

The Crusaders made it official on Tuesday night, clinching a fourth straight outright Little 4 conference championship in girls basketball.

After winning at least a co-championship with their victory at Ferndale on Thursday night, the St. Bernard’s girls needed one win in their final two Little 4 games to take the title outright, and on Tuesday they delivered.

They traveled to Miranda to play South Fork and came away with a 63-32 win, improving to 5-0 in the Little 4 and 19-6 overall.

The championship secures a top seed and opening-round bye for next week’s Dick Niclai tournament.

Also on Tuesday night, the Ferndale Wildcats won 43-24 at Hoopa to lock up a place in the Niclai tourney.

The Wildcats are 3-2 in conference and can clinch a No. 2 seed and a home game in Monday’s opening round with a win against South Fork at Ferndale High on Thursday.

The Hoopa girls, who dropped to 2-3 in conference, also are now guaranteed a place in next week’s tournament after South Fork dropped to 0-5.

Hoopa will play Ferndale in the opening round.

Playing without four starters at South Fork, the Crusaders were led by Kayla Maples and Macie Wantt and hit eight 3-pointers as a team.

“I was very proud of the girls tonight who stepped up and played great basketball while we gave four starters the day off,” SB head coach Matt Tomlin said. 

Maples scored a team-high 19 points including three 3s, while Wantt added 18 points.

Alyssa Boham and Paula Bullock each added eight points in the win, while Sariah Vainuku had five points and Kyna Tupua chipped in three.

File photo – The Ferndale Wildcats

Samantha Sundberg, Carli Baum, CJ Figas and Tally Williams did not play in the win.

No stats were immediately available for South Fork.

The Ferndale girls, meanwhile, had a big night defensively, holding the Warriors to their second-lowest points total of the season.

“We played great defensively,” Ferndale head coach Chris Ardrey said. “It’s always nice when your defense shows up like that.”

The Cats were led by Tinnley Pidgeon, who scored a team-high 18 points, while Gianna Regli continued her impressive recent run and finished with 12 points.

Madison Gossi added five points in the win, while teammate Teresa Catana chipped in four points.

With the win, the Cats improved to 15-8 on the season.

No stats were immediately available for the Hoopa girls, who dropped to 8-15 overall.