By Ray Hamill — Arcata senior Izzy Allen is getting ready for a new challenge in her basketball career and an exciting new chapter in her life.

On Friday afternoon, in front of coaches, family and teammates, Allen announced that she will be taking her talents to Gogebic Community College in Michigan after graduation later this year.

Allen is one of five Arcata seniors who will continue their playing careers at the next level, showcasing how the Tigers are succeeding off the court just as much as they are on it.

She walks away having enjoyed plenty of success at the high school level, including helping her team secure back-to-back Big 5 titles the past two years, as well as a memorable Dick Niclai Tournament championship earlier this year.

“Izzy has been competing here for four years as a basketball player at Arcata High, and she’s given everything to us as a program,” Arcata head coach Charlie Espinoza said at the gathering. “She is the epitome of what hard work does for you and how it pays off.”

For Allen, the decision to continue her playing career with the Samsons, a Division-II junior college, was an easy one after the coaches there reached out to her.

After seeing her game film, they offered her a scholarship early in the year, and after careful consideration the Arcata senior jumped at the opportunity.

“Leaving Arcata High School and the family that I have found here is going to be hard, but I am beyond excited to continue to play basketball at Gogebic Community College,” she said. “I committed to this school for many reasons — the nursing program, the new experience, but most of all because of basketball.”

While she has not yet visited the campus, which is approximately 2250 miles away, she has been in contact with the coaches on a regular basis and feels the move will be a good fit, both academically as she pursues a nursing major and as a basketball player.

And it was the coaches who convinced her the move would be a good one for her.

Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Izzy Allen, center celebrates her college decision with her teammates at Arcata High on Friday.

“They were very good, they’re really supportive, and they’ve done a lot to show that they want me to come to their school and make me feel that Gogebic is the right place for me,” Allen said.

Espinoza thanked Allen for her contributions to the Arcata High program and expressed his appreciation for her hard work and dedication, as well as the role she played in the team’s recent success.

And he’s seen first hand just how much she has grown as a person and as a player over the past four years.

“Izzy, when you first came into this program we were really excited about what your future and your potential could be,” he told her. “But what you’ve grown into was something that as a coach I didn’t know that it was going to get to this point. You are now going to be a college basketball player.

“This is due to the hard work off the court in the classroom, and this is due to the hard work on the court to develop herself and put as much energy as you did to become the stud of a basketball player that you are.”

The Arcata coach also believes that the Samsons are getting a player who will have an impact at the next level, as much for her approach to the game as her hard work and talents.

“I’ve talked to these coaches, and what they really enjoyed about you, what they loved about you, is how you played cerebral, which means you use your brain,” he said. “You play the right style of basketball, you give everything that you possibly can give to a team, to a program. And your next teammates, your next program, your next school, your next coaches are the luckiest people in the world.

“Thank you for everything that you have given to Arcata High. Thank you for everything you have given to your sisters, to your family and to me as a coach, and I’m really excited for you.”

While admitting that leaving will be difficult, Allen knows she will always cherish her time as a Tiger.

But it’s not just the success that she enjoyed on the court that made her time as an Arcata High basketball player special.

Asked what she’ll remember the most from the past four years, she responded emphatically.

“Definitely my teammates and all the friendships I made,” she said. “It’s going to be very hard to say goodbye to them, but I know that I’ll always have them, and I just have to go and make more best friends.”

But that’s not to say the success she enjoyed with her teammates wasn’t special as well.

And one moment in particular stands out.

“I think that (winning the Niclai this year) will always be something that will be so special because there was so much build up for it,” she said. “For so many years we got so close, and it was a really emotional game.”

The soon-to-be college player also expressed her appreciation to the many people she believes helped her get to where she is.

“I’d like to thank my coach here at Arcata, Charlie,” she said. “Thank you for believing in me and showing up for me every day, and thank you for making this opportunity a reality for me.

“I would not be in the position I am in today without you and the family you have built within the Arcata High School women’s basketball program.

“And thank you to my parents for all their love, support and encouragement. I would never have gotten to do any of this without you, thank you all.”

The Samsons finished 14-11 this past season.