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By Ray Hamill — A pair of former H-DNL standouts faced off against some old friends when College of Marin hosts College of the Redwoods in a women’s basketball game on Thursday.

St. Bernard’s graduate MaTaya Sherman and former McKinleyville Panther Bella Turner helped lead the Mariners to a 54-50 win in what was an exciting and closely fought game.

Both former H-DNL players are playing key roles for the Mariners this season.

Sherman, who is in her second year with the team after graduating St. Bernard’s in 2023, has started 11 of 12 games for the 5-7 Mariners and has established herself as a team leader.

“One of the things she’s doing this year compared to last year is she’s very vocal,” Marin head coach Emily Schaefer said of Sherman, who is a team captain. “That leadership role wasn’t something she felt naturally comfortable with last year, but this year’s she’s always saying the right things.”

Sherman’s presence is being felt on and off the court.

The sophomore guard, who has appeared in all 12 games and has started more than any other player on the team, is averaging 19.7 minutes a game, which is second most on a deep Marin roster.

She is averaging 3.5 rebounds, third best on the team, and 1.4 steals, but the stats don’t reflect the impact she is having.

“She is our defensive specialist,” Schaefer said. “We task her with guarding the best player on the other team and she answers the call every time.”

And that’s not all she brings to the table.

“She’s a great kid,” the coach added. “She’s awesome.”

Turner, meanwhile, is on her first year with the team and is the latest in a long line of recent H-DNL players to take their talents to Marin, a group that includes fellow Panthers Victoria Claros and Kaylee Armstrong and Fortuna’s Isobel Crosswhite, the latter of whom enjoyed a record-breaking career with the program over the past two years.

Isobel Crosswhite in action for the Mariners last season.

Crosswhite holds the school’s all-time record for rebounds across both women’s and men’s teams, with 629, and is the second-highest scorer in women’s history with 725 points.

This year she is playing at Dominican University.

“I can’t say enough about our Humboldt players,” Schaefer said.

Turner, meanwhile, has appeared in all 12 games for the Mariners this season, including two starts, as she adapts to the collegiate level.

“It’s a huge jump, and I think having her get comfortable with (the college game) is the biggest thing,” the coach added. “The pace of the game is a lot quicker but she’s really settled in, especially in the last couple of weeks, and she’s doing a little bit of everything, which is kind of what I expected from her.

“She just has her hand in everything.”

Turner is seeing plenty of action off the bench and is averaging 16 minutes a game, which is fifth most on the team so she is clearly making an impact.

Bella Turner in action for McKinleyville last winter.

The freshman guard is averaging 4.4 rebounds a game, which is second most on the team and leads the Mariners with two steals a game while also dishing out 1.8 assists a game, which is third most on the team.

Turner, who graduated from McKinleyville earlier this year, had a breakout game in a 54-48 win at Mission College last week, when she pulled down 10 rebounds.

“She was just a rebounding machine (in that game),” Schaefer said.

The former Panthers standout came off the bench on Thursday to score five points and added three rebounds.

The first half of the game was a tale of two quarters, with the Mariners storming out to a 14-4 lead early, before the Corsairs battled back and outscored the home team 20-6 in the second quarter to take a four-point lead into halftime.

The second half was back and forth with each team matching the other stride for stride and the sides were tied goin into the fourth.

The home team, however, which has been in a couple of close games recently, appears to be learning how to win down the stretch and would outscore the Corsairs 17-13 in the fourth for the victory.

“It was a great back-and-forth game the whole way with some great basketball,” Schaefer said. “We knew we were going to have our hands full.”

No stats were immediately available for the CR women.

The Corsairs also lost to Chabot on Friday by a score of 62-45 and dropped to 5-7.

On Tuesday, they won at San Mateo 70-62.

Moriah Bowles scored a team-high 16 points in the win, while Alia Prentiss added 15 points and Caroline Dieker had 10 points.