Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com

By Ray Hamill — The most successful program in Dick Niclai Tournament history, boys or girls, is headed back to the championship game.

Barely.

Big 5 champion Arcata, which has won the Niclai a record 11 times, faced off against Ferndale in the second semifinal at College of the Redwoods on Thursday night, and the smallest school to play basketball in the H-DNL gave the largest school in the league all it could handle in an entertaining showdown, before eventually falling 59-54.

If the Cats were considered sizable underdogs by many, apparently they didn’t get the memo.

The Ferndale girls came to play and led by 11 barely six minutes into the game.

The Tigers, however, won this year’s Big 5 for a reason and they would handle the adversity like the champs they are, growing into the game and closing out the first quarter on a 10-0 run to pull within one.

But the Ferndale players were not intimidated despite being in big foul trouble throughout the game — they were called for nine fouls in the opening quarter alone — and they started the second half in much the same fashion as they had started the first.

The Cats trailed by seven at the break, but they began the third quarter with a 12-6 run to pull within one and they continued to push the Tigers all night.

“Ferndale played a great game,” Arcata head coach Charlie Espinoza said. “Huge shout out to (Ferndale head coach) Chris (Ardrey). His girls played so hard. Those two guards they have (Tinnley Pidgeon and Michaela Ellsmore) are legit. I hope to see Pidgeon at CR next year. She’s a college hooper.”

The Tigers have some legit college hoopers themselves, including seniors Tae and Mae Wolford, who were instrumental in the win.

Tae finished with a team-high 24 points, while her twin sister had a double-double, scoring 13 points and adding 12 assists.

Tae also had eight steals, while Mae finished with seven.

They weren’t the only clutch performers for the Tigers on a night when they needed them.

Sophomore Betty Miles finished with 12 points on four 3-pointers, with three of them coming in the third quarter just as the Wildcats were building some momentum.

Pidgeon was hugely influential in the Cats’ big performance and scored a game-high 26 points.

The persistent foul trouble, however, was a problem for Ferndale, with standout senior Madison Gossi picking up three fouls in the opening quarter.

“I thought we played great,” Ardrey said. “We just had too many turnovers and we got in foul trouble, and that kind of disrupted our game plan.

“The third call on Maddie in the first quarter took the air out of our team, but I liked the resilience we showed, We didn’t back down, we kept fighting.”

The Ferndale players certainly did.

An 8-2 Arcata run to close out the third quarter left the Cats trailing by 10 going into the fourth quarter, but they continued to pressure the Big 5 champs, pulling with six again midway through the period, and to within four in the final minute.

“Kudos to Charlie and his gang, and kudos to Tae and Mae, they played great,” Ardrey said. “But I loved the grit and resiliency of our girls.”

Ellsmore finished with 13 points, while Gossi added seven points.

“The girls handled adversity going down 10 early,” Espinoza said. “We were hounding them on free throws this week and how important (they are), and we got ourselves settled in at the line. I’m super proud of this group.”

The Tigers will face off against Big 5 rival Eureka in Friday night’s Niclai championship game at Lumberjack Arena, with tip off set for 6 p.m.

The Loggers edged St. Bernard’s in Thursday’s other semifinal.

The Wildcats, who also lost to Arcata in last year’s Niclai semifinal before going on a long playoff run that included winning a North Coast Section championship, will now turn their attention to the upcoming section playoffs, with the seeds and brackets set to be announced on Sunday.

“The last time we lost to Arcata we went on a hell of a run,” Ardrey said. “When we play a school that size it can only help us.”