GIRLS BASKETBALL — Team, coach and player of the year finalists

By barstoolfanatics on March 21, 2026 • ( Leave a comment )

Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com

By Ray Hamill — With another basketball season in the books, it’s time to reflect on what was another exciting winter on the local courts.

It was a memorable season for several teams, including the high-flying Arcata Tigers, who clinched a second straight Big 5 championship and a first Dick Niclai Tournament title in eight years.

The St. Bernard’s girls also enjoyed a successful winter.

A young Crusaders team won another Little 4 championship and made it to the Division-3 NorCal quarterfinals, while the Ferndale Wildcats were the only local girls team to reach a North Coast Section championship game and also made a deep run into the CIF playoffs.

The Eureka girls also enjoyed a big campaign, finishing second in the Big 5 and pushing the Tigers all the way in the Niclai final at Lumberjack Arena.

Several of he H-DNL girls teams also were highly ranked in the NCS for much of the winter, with seven of the nine varsity teams ranked in the top third all season long.

That reflects how competitive the league has been in the girls game in recent years, which in itself is a reflection of the quality of coaching the league enjoys.

Charlie Espinoza is quickly establishing himself as one of the best coaches in the area after guiding the Arcata Tigers to a second straight conference championship and building a competitive and family-like culture, while St. Bernard’s Matt Tomlin and Eureka’s Cliff Napoleon consistently field competitive teams that are always playing their best ball of the year at the business end of the campaign, a sure sign of quality coaching.

Ferndale’s Chris Ardrey also has done an outstanding job with the smallest program in the H-DNL, reaching back-to-back NCS finals and pushing the Crusaders all the way in the race for this year’s Little 4 title.

New coaches Nick Perez of Del Norte, Alisha Hunter of McKinleyville and Brandon Coborn of South Fork each also made their mark with young teams this year, teams that should only continue to improve ahead of next season, while veteran coaches Tom Chapman of Fortuna and Floyd “Cowboy” Billings of Hoopa continue to get the most out of their players.

On a side note, Humboldt Sports would like to express gratitude to all of the league coaches for their cooperation all season long.

Our list of finalists for player of the year includes four seniors, two juniors and a sophomore, and as usual there were several players who barely missed out on inclusion and deserve an honorable mention, a group that includes Del Norte’s Jaylee Keeling, McKinleyville’s Lily Battolocchi, Fortuna’s Kaleya Parkinson, Hoopa’s Wau’Kel Blake and St. Bernard’s CJ Figas, none of whom are seniors and all of whom should be back better than ever a year from now.

Here then are the finalists for the Humboldt Sports girls coach, team and player of the year awards.

Click here for a full look at the list of our boys finalists.

The winners will be announced next week.