Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Michaela Ellsmore is one of three H-DNL players who will continue their playing careers at College of Marin this coming year.

By Ray Hamill — H-DNL fans will be keeping close tabs on the Mariners next winter.

The College of Marin women’s basketball team has established a strong tradition of attracting North Coast recruits to the Bay Area community college and that’s showing no signs of slowing down.

This year, three more H-DNL seniors have committed their future to head coach Emily Schaefer’s team, giving the Mariners five North Coast players on their roster for 2026/27.

And Schaefer couldn’t be happier about the influx of talent from Humboldt and Del Norte counties.

“(The area) continues to produce talented, hard-working student-athletes, and they understand what it takes to compete at a high level,” the Marin coach said. 

Arcata High graduate Syriah George became the latest local player to join the program after recently signing her letter of intent, and she joins fellow seniors Michaela Ellsmore of Ferndale and Ahty Allen of McKinleyville, who each committed to the team earlier this year.

That talented trio will join Ferndale’s Emily Sauers and Del Norte’s Brooklyn Carter, who will be sophomores at Marin next winter.

Several other local players have taken their talents south in recent years and all of them have thrived playing for Schaefer, a group that includes McKinleyville’s Victoria Claros, Bella Turner and Kayley Armstrong, St. Bernard’s Mataya Amen-Sherman and Fortuna’s Isobel Crosswhite.

Crosswhite and Sherman would continue their careers at four-year programs after their time at Marin, while Turner will join that fraternity this coming season after recently deciding to continue her career at La Sierra University in Riverside.

It’s a testament not only to the job that Schaefer and her staff are doing at the Bay Area school, but also the abundance of collegiate talent the H-DNL is producing right now.

And Schaefer is excited to continue the North Coast presence on her team.

Former St. Bernard’s standout Mataya Amen-Sherman enjoyed two good years at Marin before transferring to Pacific Union College.

“We are very excited about the incoming class,” she said.

George will give the Mariners an inside presence, while Ellsmore is a a dangerous perimeter shooter that will give her new team a legitimate outside threat that opposing teams will have to consistently account for.

“(George is) one of those players who is going to work incredibly hard and has a huge desire to improve. She has an incredible upside and I’m looking forward to working with her,” Schaefer said. 

Ellsmore, according to the coach, will be a perfect fit for the culture she is trying to build at Marin and is a player who can explode at any stage of a game.

“She has the ability to take control of a game and lead the team,” the Marin coach said. “She has incredible leadership qualities and she’s a great shooter from 3-point range.”

And that’s not all the coach like about the Ferndale graduate.

“She’s going to come and help us take a tremendous step. I just can’t say enough about her as a person,” Schaefer added. “I just think she’s going to be really good for us and she wants to improve.”

Submitted photo – Syriah George at her recent letter signing ceremony at Arcata High.

Allen, who signed her letter of intent to play for Marin last month, is another player who has impressed the Mariners coach with her approach to the game and demeanor as a person.

“She’s got an incredible attitude and I really enjoyed getting to know her,” Schaefer said. “I think she can come in here (and succeed) with her work ethic and her willingness to improve. She wants to get better.”

Allen reminds the coach of another former H-DNL standout who has enjoyed  success at Marin and at Pacific Union College last winter.

“I compare her a lot to Mataya Sherman,” Schaefer said of Allen. “I see a lot of similarities with their ability to play defense.”

After two years at Marin, Amen-Sherman has continued to excel with the Pioneers, an NAIA program in Angwin near Santa Rosa, where she led her new team with 10.9 points a game last season and was named team MVP while also earning all-conference honors.

“She had a breakout year for them,” Schaefer said of the 2023 St. Bernard’s graduate. “She did what she needed to do and we’re super proud of her.”

Like with many California JC programs, moving players on to four-year programs is one of the primary goals for Schaefer and her staff.

“That’s the goal, that’s what we want,” she said. 

Turner is another success story for the team, and after two good years playing for the Mariners she is now getting ready to join La Sierra University, an NAIA program in Riverside.

The 2024 Mack High graduate averaged 6.7 points and five rebounds a game this past season, while leading the team with 68 steals.

Sauers and Carter both grew into their roles with the team as the season progressed and both former H-DNL players closed out the campaign strong as they settled in at the collegiate level.

Sauers made her presence felt in the paint and had a team-best 23 blocks, while Carter was on fire over the final five games after finding her groove late in the season.

“They did really well,” Schaefer said of the two freshmen. 

Carter, who was one of the most dangerous 3-point shooters in the Big 5 during her time at Del Norte, scored 54 points over the final four games.

Submitted photo – Ahty Allen at her letter signing ceremony last month

“She just was shooting the ball so well,” Schaefer said. “Over the last four or five games she was just terrific. She just had to find her rhythm.”

Sauers also impressed the coach with her improvement over the course of the season.

“People really have to change what they’re doing when she’s in the key and defending,” the Marin coach said.

With a year’s college experience now under their belts, Carter and Sauers will be needed to provide some leadership on next year’s team, which will feature 11 freshmen, including the trio of local players.

But they’ve been working hard since the end of last season, after the Mariners finished 15-13, including 7-7 in conference.

“They’ve been putting in months of work,” Schaefer said. “And I’m really excited to see how it comes together.”

The Mariners will travel north to play at College of the Redwoods on Nov. 28.