The Healdsburg girls basketball team is on the verge of a benchmark of success that has eluded them for decades. Depending on the results of the Tuesday night game against Division 5 North Coast Section championship series, the Hounds could end up in the upcoming final match—or settle for a third place in the annual playoffs.
The Greyhound girls have had several successful league seasons of late, but 2026 was not one of them. They finished in 4th place, lagging behind Ukiah, Santa Rosa and St. Vincent with a 4-6 record. This still gave them a spot in the Redwood playoffs that started on Feb. 10 against Ukiah, but the embarrassing 53-26 result didn’t do team morale any good.
Yet as coaches keep reminding players, their parents and the press, a team’s division standings is a better metric for their skills than simply league results. For example, the undefeated Redwood champ Ukiah fell in the first round of their Division 2 playoffs to Marin Catholic.
Healdsburg is in Division 5, composed of much smaller public schools. Even so they came into the championship series seeded fourth, a pretty high ranking for a 11-17 team and one that brings them home-field advantage. They proved they merited the status by winning the first game of the playoffs, on Feb. 17 against the Emerald Aeronauts of Dublin.
Behind 31-29 at the half, the Hounds came out ready to hunt and scored 20 points in the third quarter to wipe away the Emerald lead, winning going away at 56-43.
Next step was when Healdsburg met Credo of Rohnert Park on Friday – where they defeated the #5-seeded school, 35-28. That put the Greyhounds into the division semi-finals for the first time since 2003, said coach Cassidy Jourdan.
“Making it this far in the playoffs has been a really great boost of confidence for our team!” she said. “We play in a competitive league and we had a few tough losses at the end of our season before we headed into the NCS playoffs.”
With those losses behind them to Santa Rosa, St. Vincent and Ukiah, this year’s Lady Hounds are digging down to remember what it’s like to win, said Cassidy. “We had to come together as a group and re-commit to this postseason run, because it can be difficult at the end of a long season to find the grit and determination to keep going,” she said.
“When everyone finally arrived at that, ‘Yes, Let’s do it!’ moment, these girls showed up to practice every day to work.” That they did: Claire Berry scored 21 points in the Emerald game, while Amber Dhiman connected for three 3-pointers in her 11 point output against Credo. Sister Meher Dhiman, and sisters Ameilia and Ava Wickersham, have all upped their game in the post season. And they’ve been winning.
The semi-finals opponent Gateway is seeded #9, but that may be deceptive: the San Francisco school’s team soundly defeated the top-seed The Bay School in the quarterfinals, 43-33. Despite the ranking the two schools will be playing for a common goal: to make it into the Division 5 finals game scheduled for Feb. 27. Only one will make it.
Tuesday’s semi-final game begins at 7pm at Smith Robinson gym.
