Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Former Eureka High and College of the Redwoods player Makaila Napoleon will make her pro debut in the Maltese league later this month.

By Ray Hamill — For the second time in 12 months, a former Eureka Logger is getting the opportunity to play professional basketball overseas.

Makaila Napoleon, a 2019 Eureka High graduate who also played for College of the Redwoods, recently signed a one-year contract to play for Starlites Basketball Club in Malta and will fly out to the Mediterranean island on Sunday before debuting with her team next week.

Napoleon follows in the footsteps of her former Eureka teammate, Kaylee Murphy, who traveled to Europe to play professionally in Portugal in September of last year.

And Napoleon is relishing the opportunity for a lot of reasons.

“I’m super excited,” she said. “I’m only the second woman I know that has ever got to play professionally overseas.

“It’s really exciting, and for my home town and the community and for the young players coming up it shows that it’s possible.”

Napoleon, who played collegiately at William Jessup University in Rocklin for the past two years, says that playing professionally has long been a dream of hers, although it was something she wasn’t sure she could achieve until recently.

“It was definitely a dream I’ve had since I was little, to play professionally,” she said. “As I got older I wasn’t sure it would happen, but when I got the opportunity I had to at least try it and see how it goes.”

The opportunity came about after Napoleon graduated from William Jessup.

She went to a pro showcase event in Ohio earlier this year and was graded as the 14th best prospect out of 80 players there, most of whom were Division-I or D-II college players.

After such a strong showing in Ohio, Napoleon’s agent reached to her with the offer from Starlites in July.

And she immediately jumped at the opportunity.

“I’ve actually never really left the country before,” said Napoleon, whose only trip out of the USA was to visit Canada. “So this will be a whole new experience.”

Indeed it will be a very new experience, moving to an island of just half a million people in the central Mediterranean Sea between Sicily and the North African coast.

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Asked what she knows of Malta, Napoleon responded with a chuckle.

“It’s an island,” she said. “And it looks super pretty.”

In her senior year playing for William Jessup, Napoleon averaged 12.6 points and six boards a game and helped lead the Warriors to a record of 22-8, which set a new program record for most wins in a single season for the Division-II school.

However, playing this summer in the Bay Area for the Tech City Titans of the Women’s Premier Basketball Association really helped her believe she could take the next step.

“I think what really prepared me was playing for the Tech City Titans in the Bay Area,” she said. “They were all Division-I and ex-WNBA players and playing against that competition really helped me and opened my eyes to the next level.”

Napoleon, who will play the 3 or 4 spot for her new team, has been researching the club in preparation for the big move.

“I have watched some game film of the team so I have an idea (of how they play),” she said. “And I know our coach wants us to be high intensity.”

Last year, the team placed second in the Maltese pro league.

As for her future in the professional ranks, Napoleon says she is keeping her options open.

“I’ve signed a one-year contract, and hopefully if I do well there I will get some more opportunities.”

The season in Malta runs from September to April and Napoleon hopes to take full advantage of her new surroundings, as well as the Mediterranean food.

“I’m going to try (to travel) whenever I have time,” she said.