Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com

The Ferndale Wildcats will get the opportunity to play for a second straight North Coast Section championship and a third in five years after a dominating 54-27 win in their Division-6 semifinal on Wednesday night.

The Ferndale girls, who are seeded No. 2 in the bracket, hosted No. 3 Crace Christian Academy and held the Lions to just eight first-half points to quickly take control.

And after that, there was no way back for the visitors.

The victory, which was Ferndale’s fifth straight in the NCS playoffs dating back to last year, sets up a championship showdown against No. 1 seed Cornerstone Christian in Antioch on Saturday night.

It also means the Cats will likely get a home game in the opening round of the state playoffs, which tip off next week.

Saturday’s championship showdown will be a rematch of last year’s Division-6 decider, which the Cats won 53-51.

And if the Ferndale players continue to play defense the way they have been, they’ll be tough to stop.

The Cats have held both of their playoff opponents under 30 points, giving up just 55 points combined.

On Wednesday, they pressured the Lions and it paid off.

“We knew if we got on them early it would cause a lot of confusion, and I thought we jumped on them right off the bat,” Ferndale head coach Chris Ardrey said. 

Several players enjoyed good nights in the win, including senior guard Tinnley Pidgeon, who continues to make her presence felt at both ends of the floor and is playing some outstanding basketball to close out her high school career.

“Kudos to Tinnley. I don’t think there are a lot of girls in Humboldt County that can play like that on both sides of the ball,” Ardrey said of Pidgeon, who finished with 13 points.

It could have been worse for the Lions but for the fact the Wildcats missed several easy layups, but with the defense playing like it did the home team never appeared in danger of losing this one.

Pidgeon and Gianna Regli both did an excellent job containing the visitors’ most dangerous two players, and they weren’t the only Wildcats to shine.

Michaela Ellsmore scored a game-high 17 points, while Regli added 12 points.

“It was good to see (Ellsmore) get her stroke back,” Ardrey said. “If we can get three girls in double digits it’s always good.” 

Defensively, Madison Gossi had some big blocks, while her younger sister, Abagail Gossi, and Teresa Catana each also had good nights defensively.

“I thought we took them out of their game plan, and that’s what we wanted to do,” Ardrey said.

With the win, the Cats improved to 19-9, while the Lions dropped to 19-4.

In Wednesday’s other Division-6 semifinal, Cornerstone Christian got the better of St. Vincent de Paul 67-43.

Saturday’s game is set for 7 p.m.

The Ferndale girls also won a section title in 2022, beating Cornerstone Christian in that final as well.