POINT LOMA – Before sunrise, Izzy Navarro would cross the border from Tijuana to Del Mar, enduring a two-hour commute to attend Cathedral Catholic High School. By the time basketball practice ended, she’d get home after 8 p.m. — and then start over the next day.
That work ethic has carried into her college career, where the 5-foot-8 junior guard has become an anchor for Point Loma Nazarene women’s basketball.
Navarro has averaged more than 30 minutes a game this season and is the only Sea Lion to surpass 500 minutes in the first 17 contests, logging more than 30 minutes in eight straight games. Associate head coach Grace Ricafranca calls her the “go factor.”
Navarro describes her game as “grit.”
“She has a built-in toughness,” Ricafranca said. “Her long-term commitment to things she’s passionate about really shows. She goes in 100% when she finds something she cares about, and it’s been evident all year. She shows up for her teammates, takes feedback, makes adjustments from practice to practice, and stays fully engaged.”
Born in Tijuana to teenaged parents, Navarro credits her father, Michael, for instilling her relentlessness. During her freshman and sophomore years, he drove her across the border daily. As a senior, after the online COVID year, Navarro made the drive herself, taking her younger sister, Gizel — a fellow Cathedral Catholic basketball player — along and dropping their dad off at work on the way.
“It was mostly my parents who made that sacrifice for us,” Navarro said. “In the moment, I didn’t really notice how big it was until I started driving myself. I really can’t thank them enough — waiting in line at the border, driving us that far, waiting until 6, 7, 8 p.m. until practice was over, then driving us back and making us dinner.”
There were difficult days.
“I’d tell my dad, ‘I don’t even feel like going to school today,’” Navarro recalled. “But it was the same lecture every day: ‘You are literally closer to getting your college degree than you were when you started kindergarten. You have to grind it out.’ That’s what kept me motivated.
“My parents never went to college, and I think it came from a place of wanting something bigger for me — something they never got to have — to set me up for the future. My dad would literally tell me, ‘If you want to quit after college is over, I don’t care. Just get your degree.’”
Navarro transferred to Point Loma Nazarene this year from Concordia, where she was named PacWest Freshman of the Year. She’s averaging nearly 13 points per game for the 13-4 Sea Lions. In high school, she was a three-time First Team All-Western League honoree and a two-time First Team All-CIF Open Division selection.
She won the CIF Open Division Championship twice, the Western League Championship four times, and was named the San Diego High School Sports Association Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2022.
“When she entered the transfer portal last year, it was kind of a no-brainer for us to pursue her and see if she’d be a good fit for our program,” Ricafranca said. “She’s a three-level scorer — she can finish at the rim, hit mid-range, and shoot from the perimeter — and her ability to create for others makes her a threat on all cylinders offensively.
“If a defender comes over a ball screen or collapses in the post, she finds the open teammate and delivers. Her greatest strength is her ability to read the floor and make great decisions. She’s been a tremendous leader for our team.”
“I was desperate to be a part of a winning culture,” Navarro added. “How much I can just connect with the coaches on a personal level that has nothing to do with basketball. I mean, I go into their office and talk to them about anything and everything, and it doesn’t even feel like I’m talking to my coach. It feels like I’m talking to a friend, like an older sister, or like a mom.”
PLNU came into the season following a 25-win campaign, a PacWest Championship, and back-to-back NCAA Division II Tournament appearances.
Navarro joined a core of returning program mainstays, including 6 foot 2 inch tall center Eiley Tippins, 5 foot 11 inch tall guard Hannah Golan, and 5 foot 11 inch tall forward Maddie Mersch.
“I knew Eiley, Hannah, and Maddie because I’d played against them, but I had never played with such high-skilled players,” Navarro said. “It was a bit scary at first, but it’s been a really smooth transition.”
Off the court, Navarro said she wants to give back and is hoping to help a younger generation of Mexicans use basketball to open doors.
Last summer, she held a free basketball camp in her mother, Marey’s, small hometown in Sinaloa, Mexico, for 30 children ages 6 to 12 — boys and girls.
“It was the most rewarding experience — something I never would have thought about doing if I hadn’t gone back to my mom’s hometown,” Navarro said. “It was 3 a.m., I couldn’t sleep, and I thought, I really want to do this. Seeing how much these kids looked up to me just meant the world. Sometimes, when you’re a college athlete at a small school, it can feel like nobody looks up to you — but just knowing that somebody would want to be in your position when they grow up meant the world.”
