UCSB men’s basketball assistant coach Louis Reynaud was feeling like he was jinxed.
Before arriving in Santa Barbara, he was working as an assistant coach at the University of Houston when Hurricane Harvey hit.
“I lost all my stuff,” he said at Monday’s Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table press luncheon at Harry’s Plaza Cafe.
He went to stay with his brother in Santa Rosa, “and they had a bunch of fires there.”
He came to Santa Barbara to join Joe Pasternack’s staff and experienced the recent Thomas Fire and the devastating mudslides through Montecito.
Adding to the string of terrible incidents, while in Honolulu for the Gauchos’ game against the University of Hawaii there was an alert of a ballistic missile attack on the morning of the game. It was later learned that the alert was a false alarm due to human error.
As for the basketball game, the Gauchos lost by one point.
“Maybe I’m bad luck … I don’t know,” he cracked. “People ask how I like Santa Barbara. I tell them, ‘I’ll let you know when I get settled in.’”
Reynaud has settled in as a member of Pasternack’s staff, and the Gauchos are rolling. They’re 16-5 and 5-2 in the Big West, with both conference losses by one point.
The play host to Hawaii (4-2 in Big West) on Thursday at the Thunderdome.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Westmont Women
Coach Kirsten Moore was impressed how her team played over the weekend, beating Hope International by 20 points (70-50) and No. 2-ranked Vanguard by 35 (73-38). The wins put the Warriors in sole possession of first place in the GSAC.
“If you watched film of my team in November and watched my team last week, you’d be shocked it was the same basketball team,” Moore said.
She noted that Vanguard came into the game as the No. 1 rebounding team and No. 1 in rebounding margin in the NAIA “and we out rebounded them by 12.
“My girls were Warriors in, obviously, name and also in action, and it was amazing to see.”
Westmont is on the road at Menlo on Thursday and at William Jessup on Saturday.
Westmont Men
Coach John Moore said his team has transformed from a guard-oriented to a post-oriented team.
“We’ve become very good in the post and I’m not sure why. But it’s happening,” said Moore.
The reason has been the play of Olisa Nwachie and Zac Jervis. They each posted double doubles in a double-overtime win over Hope International (88-84). Jervis had 29 points, 12 rebounds, while Nwachi scored 24 points and grabbed 13 boards and made key block at the end of the first overtime.
Moore called it “one of the greatest games I’ve coached in Murchison Gym.”
Westmont is 16-4 and 6-1 in the GSAC.
GIRLS WATER POLO
San Marcos
Coach Chuckie Roth said he was proud of the team’s mental approach and the way they’ve improved during the season. The Royals finished seventh at the recent Tournament of Champions and are ranked eighth in CIF Division 1.
He introduced seniors Sophie Trumbull and Lili Akin, who both have committed to colleges: Trumbull to UCSB and Akin to Brown.
Roth said Trumbull, the goalkeeper, “is the backbone of our defense. She played phenomenal all weekend long. I’m looking forward to her continued leadership for the remainder of the season.”
On Akin: “I’m really proud of her growth. She provides another great source of leadership for us.”
BOYS BASKETBALL
Dos Pueblos
Coach Joe Zamora brought two players whose fathers are basketball coaches.
Jaron Rillie is the son of UCSB men’s assistant John Rillie.
“He’s a very smart young man and has a basketball IQ that’s extreme,” said Zamora of the sophomore. “He’s a lefty that can shoot it. He’s fit in and has become a complete team player.”
The other player was his son, Joseph, a senior at DP.
“I’m proud of him. It’s been a really good journey for him,” said the coach of his son playing for him. “He’s a 4.1 student, which he gets from his mom, not me. On and off the court, he’s been a really good role model for his younger brother. As a coach, I look at him as a great team player, but as a father he’s just a good role model to his younger brother and the young kids he works with.”
Zamora also introduced former DP girls basketball coach Maynard Pilipil.
Providence
The Patriots are rolling at 17-1 and 5-0 in the Condor League.
Point guard Bryan Sheets and forward Nick Butler are two big reasons for the team’s success.
Sheets has excelled at point guard.
“Before this year, he played point guard only once,” coach Steve Stokes said. “He’s playing full time this season. He gets 8-9 assists on any night. He gets 20-25 points on any night, and sometimes he’ll do both. He’s made the transition really well.”
Butler has added more scoring to his game after being primarily a defensive stopper.
“Nick has evolved into one of our biggest offensive threats,” said Stokes. “He’s evolved into someone who can play both ends of the floor at a really high level, guarding the other teams’ best player on one end and being a go-to guy on the other end, which is really difficult to do.”
The Patriots play Wednesday at Channel Islands and Saturday at Villanova Prep.
Carpinteria
Power forward and team captain Terrell Richardson “is a formidable inside player who is willing to stand his ground and take a charge,” coach Henry Gonzalez wrote in his report given by assistant girls soccer coach Lucy Carleton. “He took 38 charges last year.”
Cian Figueras is the team’s shooting guard.
“He’s developed to be bigger threat behind the arc and will do anything on the court to help us win,” Gonzalez reported.
COLLEGE WATER POLO
UCSB Women
Coach Serela Kay just returned from Indiana, where her Gauchos went 4-1 in the Hoosier Invitational to improve to 7-3 on the season.
She brought lone senior Annie Mortimer and redshirt sophomore Shannon Moran.
Mortimer is the program’s Golden Eagle Award recipient.
“She fills her role out of the pool and excels in the classroom,” said Kay of the center defender. “In the pool, we have leg battles and she has the strongest legs on the team. I appreciate her drive and aggressiveness. She fills the role as a big leader on the team.”
Kay coached Moran as a youth club water polo player in the Bay Area.
“It’s really special for me to coach her in college,” she said.
She called Moran a “backbone” of the team. Moran scored hat tricks in two games in Indiana.
“She’s stepping it up big time for us,” said Kay.
BOYS SOCCER
Carpinteria
Assistant coach Ryan Warner is amazed by talent level of soccer in the area.
It’s the most talented year I’ve ever seen as a coach in Santa Barbara,” he said. “We have some players that are phenomenal and can play at any level they want to. It’s just trying to figure out how to get them to play that level each week.”
Two of those talented players are senior left-footed midfielder Luis Garcia and junior center back Eddie Mendoza.
The Warriors have a huge game Wednesday at home against Santa Paula. Both teams are 5-1-1 in the Tri-Valley League.
“That game will determine the season for us,” said Warner.
GIRLS SOCCER
Carpinteria
Assistant coach Lucy Carleton said the Warriors have been very busy catching up on games that were postponed due to the fire and flooding in the area. They played four games last week and have four more this week.
She introduced her three senior team captains: Laura Valdez, Alejandra Alvarez and Alejandro Garcia.
Valdez, the team’s goalkeeper, was the MVP of the league last season. “She makes amazing saves all of the time,” said Carleton.
Alvarez, a left-footed midfielder-forward, led the team in scoring and assists.
“She has unbelievable foot work and a smile that matches it,” said Carleton.
The coach called Garcia “the backbone of the defense, the central defender in charge of anything.”
Women and Girls in Sports Luncheon
Next week’s Round Table luncheon will be the annual Women and Girls in Sports event at the Earl Warren Showgrounds. The event starts at 11:30 a.m.
The featured speakers are Santa Barbara Police Chief Lori Luhnow, University of California Assistant Chief of Police Cathy Farley and Newport Beach Fire Department Engineer Erin Brown Alexander.
All three women played collegiate sports. Brown was a basketball standout at UCSB and at Santa Ynez High; Luhnow played volleyball, was a speed skater and velodrome cyclist; Farley competed on the track & field team at UCSB and later turned to body building.
The SBART Women & Girls in Sports Luncheon is open to the public. Tickets are $30/adults and $15/child. Please RSVP by Wednesday, Jan. 31, at www.SBART.org.
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