Mark Lourenzo

Beacon Correspondent

There has been plenty of action locally as the regular season came to an end last week and the postseason for area basketball is upon us. For freshman and junior varsity teams, the season is over, for most varsity teams, just a few games remain.

The Fortuna and Ferndale varsity girls teams have little momentum as the week begins but still have life left in their season, while the Fortuna varsity boys have called it a season with their home finale last Thursday.

No one gave the Fortuna Huskies varsity boys much of a chance last week when they played host to the Arcata Tigers on senior night. Arcata came in with a record of 20-4 and unbeaten in league, yet the Huskies played hard and gave the Tigers a good fight for a while.

As good as the Fortuna defense was, the Huskies once again had their troubles getting the shots to fall. So many shots rimmed out or hit iron rather than net, but that's been the story for the Huskies this season. Fortuna was truly a blue collar team that played tough defense but came up a little short on the scoreboard too often.

”We had a lot of close games down the stretch, if we would have made a few more of our shots you never know, but we'll get-um next year,” said Fortuna head coach Joe Rice as he reflected on the Arcata game and the season.

”The boys really put forth an effort tonight (vs Arcata) and they did what I asked of them, so I'm proud of our efforts,” added Rice. The Huskies held the Tigers to a low output of 54 points, but could muster just 32 points for the home team.

Two nights prior the Huskies put up 65 points at Hoopa, but the Warriors came from behind to post 70 points for the win. Fortuna started their season with no returning starters on the squad, they ended their season with a record of 8-15.

The Fortuna JV boys, coached by Evan Fontaine, split their games in the final week of the season. The Huskies won at Hoopa with their highest offensive production of the season in a shootout with the Warriors, scoring 87 points to Hoopa's 50, in a decisive win.

Tyrol Chamberlain and Kyle Wiggins each scored 16 points in that game. Jason Holmgren and Zach Cahill each added 15 points. The Huskies ended their season, at home, losing to powerful Arcata, 66-39. Kevin Will and Chamberlain each scored 9 points in the finale. The freshman team coached by John Crotty likewise came up short versus Arcata in their season finale by a score of 71-39.

The Fortuna varsity girls had momentum coming into last week with three straight wins however, the team dropped two games on the road last week leaving their postseason aspirations in question. The wheels fell off the bus (metaphorically) on the trip to Hoopa and the spare didn't hold up well on the trip to Arcata either.

On the 10th of this month the Hoopa Warriors hit nine 3-point shots and bested the Lady Huskies 53-45. Nochella Ozard led the team with 13 but the low offensive output would do any team in.

Two nights later, with much at stake, the Huskies came up short once again, 48-37 in Arcata. Lili Herrera led the team with 14 points but as a team the Huskies missed several shots right around the basket that would have gone in on a different night.

So the Huskies will have to travel to Eureka this past Tuesday evening for rematch with the Loggers in the opening round of the Niclai Tournament. Hard to tell which Huskies team will show up for that contest, the one that beat Eureka back on the 3rd of the month or the team from last week.

The Fortuna junior varsity and freshman girls teams finished the season strong with wins last week. The JV Huskies swept games at Hoopa (36-27) and at Arcata (44-37). Kenzie Rice hit four 3-point shots in Hoopa to total 14 points and Melissa Morrison canned 16 points in the win at Arcata.

The JV girls team was coached by Cassie Fontaine and finished the season with an overall record of 16-9. The frosh team, coached by Dennis Rosser, with assistance from Jain Tuey, finished their season 16-3 overall after their win at Arcata 37-25. Sydney Chairez finished the season strong and led the team with 12 points in the Arcata win. Fortuna tied McKinleyville for league honors with a 7-1 record.

The Ferndale JV boys certainly had a fine season. The Cats finished up last week winning both games to post a 18-4 record for the season. Wins over St Bernards (71-36) and Eureka (57-45) ended things on a high note. Monet Hamor scored 19 points in the win at Eureka and Wyatt Townsend (16 pts) topped a balanced team effort at home in the win over the Crusaders. The Cats finished tied for the Little Four Title with Hoopa and would have loved one more shot at the Warriors like the varsity team had this past Saturday.

The Lady Cats lost last week at home to St. Bernard's by a score of 52-34. Desirae Keyes led the team with 11 points and Kaitlyn Regli added 9 points but it was not enough as Ferndale had 20 turnovers by halftime and got into too big of a hole to dig out. The Cats will host the Crusaders once again in the opening round of the Niclai Tournament this past Tuesday, after deadline.

The junior varsity Cats finished their season on a winning note with wins over South Fork and St. Bernard's and finished a solid 2nd place in league. The score in South Fork was 45-28, the St. Bernard's score was not available, the Cats are coached by Heather Parker.