Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Action from Thursday’s game at Eureka High.

By Ray Hamill — No one will want to play the Eureka Loggers in next week’s Dick Niclai Tournament.

The Loggers closed out the regular season with a 54-47 win against Arcata in girls basketball on Thursday night, handing the Tigers their first conference loss in two years and ending their nine-game winning streak.

The Eureka girls had already secured the Big 5’s No. 2 seed for next week’s big tournament and will face off against No. 3 Del Norte at home on Monday night after the Warriors got the better of Fortuna on Thursday, 45-40, to qualify and eliminate the Huskies.

But it will be a tough ask for the Warriors going up against the hottest team in the H-DNL right now.

Since essentially losing three games in 24 hours two weeks ago — a Friday night overtime loss at McKinleyville was followed by the news that they would have to forfeit two games from earlier in the month because they had fielded an ineligible player — the Loggers have been unstoppable.

Their five-game winning streak since then has included victories over both the Little 4 champs (St. Bernard’s) and the Big 5 champs (Arcata), as well as a three-point win over the Warriors.

And Thursday’s win was a great way to celebrate senior night for a class that includes Nashya Williams, Bella Hunt and Madelyn Fazio.

“We pulled it off on Senior Night,” Eureka head coach Cliff Napoleon said. “Girls played well as a team. They shared the ball and we made some timely baskets to build the lead.”

The Loggers led throughout, holding a seven-point lead at halftime and stretching the advantage to as many as 17 with a dominating third quarter.

The Tigers, however, are Big 5 champs for a reason and would rally late, cutting the deficit to three with two minutes remaining, before eventually losing.

Arcata head coach Charlie Espinoza felt it was a good test for his team heading into the postseason.

“What a way to end league. We wouldn’t want to battle it out with anyone else,” Espinoza said. “Cliff is such a great coach. He had his girls ready to roll and they definitely executed their game plan early and it showed.

“We responded late, but just wasn’t enough time.”

Williams and junior Tiarah Maualuga continued to lead the way for the home team and each finished with a team-high 15 points, while Jocilyn O’Donnell added 10 points.

“Tiarah Maualuga settled everyone down and showed great leadership tonight,” Napoleon said. 

The junior standout did a good job of handling the Arcata press and also made some clutch free throws along with Williams to help see their team over the finish line.

Fazio finished with five points, including a 3-pointer in the third quarter that helped spark her teammates and a 10-0 run.

The senior has made a habit of coming up with big baskets just when her team seems to need it.

“She’s been doing that all year,” said Napoleon, who added “that one shot just energizes everyone.”

The coach also praised the performance of his bench players, who did “exceptional tonight.”

That included Alena Battle, who gave her team some valuable minutes in place of Maualuga, as well as O’Donnell, who “had her best game of the year,” the coach said.

Olivianna Millender also had a good game and “helped stabilize things when we were getting pressed,” the coach added.

Tae Wolford had a double-double for the Tigers, finishing with a team-high 17 points and 11 rebounds, as well as five steals, while her twin sister Mae Wolford added 11 points and five steals.

Sophomore Colby Eisner also impressed and helped to spark the fourth-quarter rally, finishing with six rebounds.

“I trust our girls and I trust that we will respond,” Espinoza said. “Eureka helped us grow today. My biggest fear going into playoffs is that we weren’t battle tested enough, and that game showed us that we have what it takes to play with our back against the wall.”

The Tigers (7-1 in the Big 5, 15-4 overall) will begin Niclai tournament play in next Thursday’s semifinals at College of the Redwoods, against either Ferndale or Hoopa.

Eureka closed out conference play 5-3 and is now 17-8 overall.

Up in Crescent City, meanwhile, the Warriors secured their place in next week’s Niclai tournament with a big fourth quarter.

The home team trailed for much of the night, but overcame a nine-point deficit in the fourth by outscoring the visitors 22-8 for the period.

And they did it with several players stepping up late and by going 11-of-14 at the free-throw line in the final period.

“Started off slow and it took us a while to find a rhythm,” Del Norte head coach Nick Perez said. “Going into halftime we made adjustments.

“The bench came in and gave great minutes and helped us rally the win.”

Freshman Josephine Antonetti led the late charge and finished with a team-high 14 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter.

Jaylee Keeling also impressed for Del Norte and finished with eight points, while Kansas Coulson closed out strong with all six of her points coming in the fourth.

Bliss Blackburn, Gianna Antonetti, and Lily Franklin each chipped in five points for the home team, which closed out the Big 5 with a record of 4-4 and are now 11-10 overall.

It was a disappointing finale for the Fortuna girls, who dropped to 2-6 in the Big 5 and 16-10 overall.

They had eight turnovers in the fourth quarter.

Evalynn Little had a big night in the loss and finished with a game-high 17 points to go with eight rebounds, while Jaydyn Dalton also impressed and had 10 points and four rebounds.

Olivia Scilacci chipped in seven points, three rebounds and three steals.

The Huskies may have missed out on on the Niclai tournament, but after the same fate last year they would go on a deeper playoff run than any other Big 5 school, qualifying for the NorCal playoffs.

They will have a week on the practice courts before finding out their NCS playoff seed and bracket next weekend.