Even though the high school basketball season has wrapped up on the North Coast, some of the best prep hoopers in the area got back on the court this past weekend with the Humboldt Wild All Stars in Roseville for the Best of the West Showcase.
The Humboldt Wild All Stars team features players from five H-DNL schools with two other players from out of the area. The team was recently put together by St. Bernard’s head coach Matt Tomlin, who won a state championship with the Crusaders in 2024. The tournament in Roseville was the first tournament that the Humboldt Wild All Stars have played together but lack of cohesion wasn’t an issue, as they went 3-1 versus some quality competition.
“It’s a really cool celebration of how strong girls basketball is in Humboldt County,” Tomlin said. “It’s a lot of fun to watch them go out and get a chance to play against the best.”
The team came together after St. Bernard’s senior Aliyah Vigil came to Tomlin looking for an AAU team to play with this spring.
“She was looking for an AAU team to play on for seniors that have nothing to do until they go to college,” Tomlin said. “It’s been a lot of fun. We practice just one day a week on Sundays and are going to five tournaments and that was the first one.”
Vigil is joined by St. Bernard’s teammates, freshman Carli Baum and senior Laila Florvilus. Eureka senior Samara Gaither, Del Norte senior Brooklyn Carter, Ferndale senior Emily Sauers and Fortuna junior Macee Marquez out of the H-DNL. Middletown senior Mia Hoogendoorn and senior Peityn Erlenbush of Churchill High School in Eugene, Oregon, filled out the roster for the team.
“We went up against the best AAU teams in California and they played big-time,” Tomlin said. “You don’t know how they’re going to gel. They got a lot of talent, but they haven’t played together, and they got to figure out how to win together, but it came together pretty quick.”
The Humboldt Wild All Stars took game one on Saturday 52-47 over the East Bay Lady Legends, with Gaither leading the team with 13 points, and Carter adding 10 in the close win. Carter connected on a go-ahead three with a minute to play and the Humboldt Wild All Stars was able to close out the win.
They pulled out a second close win on Saturday, beating the Bay City Select All Stars 42-40 by ending the game on a 7-0 run. Carter hit another clutch three in the closing moments with Florvilus adding a crunch-time bucket before Hoogendoorn hit a game-winning shot with 13 seconds remaining.
On Sunday, the winning continued for the Humboldt Wild All Stars as they beat the Sacramento Lady Spartans 53-42 with Florvilius leading the way with 17 points and Carter adding 14 in the win. The Humboldt Wild All Stars didn’t leave as the champions though, falling 57-37 to the Central California Elite. Hoogendoorn scored eight points to lead Humboldt Wild All Stars, with Baum adding seven points and five assists.
Perhaps the best thing to come from the tournament occurred off the court. With so much talent all in one place, there were several college scouts and coaches in attendance, which led to Gaither receiving an offer on the spot following their first game of the tournament. Gaither wasn’t the only Humboldt Wild All Star to meet with college coaches at the tournament.
“Watching your player be contacted by college coaches after the game, and for one of them to receive an offer from a college that she’s really excited about, was really cool,” Tomlin said. “That’s our job as a coach, to get these kids opportunities and put them in front of college coaches and to open doors for them.”
The Humboldt Wild All Stars will head to Redding next weekend for the second of their five tournaments and will look to continue to showcase the local girl’s basketball talent.
Dylan McNeill can be reached at 707-441-0526.
