Kirsten Moore is ready for another year of basketball coaching.
Only this year is going to be totally different from all the years she’s run a team.
If you thought her team last season was young, this one is even younger.
Moore embarks on her first year coaching a first- and second-grade girls basketball team that includes her daughter, Alexis, at the Page Center.
“She is now in second grade and is going to embark on her first season of basketball, so I’m going to see what my real coaching skills are like,” said Moore with a big smile at Monday’s Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table press luncheon at Harry’s Plaza Cafe. “She’s never played before, but it’s gonna be fun.”
Moore and her Westmont women’s basketball team tip off the 2019-20 season on Tuesday at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
“I absolutely love my team,” she said. “We return all but one player from last year’s team. You remember that last year we were incredibly young, with the majority of freshmen out there on the court. So now the majority of my team is sophomores, and that is fun because they know what they’re doing. They know the expectation level as far as how hard they need to play and how hard they need to prepare mentally to be ready. And they are having fun doing it. They’ve got great team unity. They’re an absolute joy to coach.”
Westmont plays its home opener on Saturday against Northern New Mexico at 10:30 a.m. The tip-off time is so early because there are several events going on that day on the campus.
Moore hopes the basketball teams can follow the success of the fall sports teams at Westmont. The men’s and women’s soccer teams won conference titles and the women’s volleyball team is tied for first place going into the last week of the regular season.
“If our basketball coaches can follow in our fall coaches’ footsteps, we are going to be looking good, because our fall sports have just had such a dominant fall. It has been so fun to watch them,” said Moore.
UCSB Women’s Basketball
The Gauchos tip off their season at noon Tuesday against Utah Valley State in the Thunderdome.
“I understand a lot of you won’t be able to come, but if you come to the game, there will be lots of kids there for a ‘scream game,’” said assistant coach Nate Fripp. “All the elementary schools come and they just yell the whole game, so it should be fun.”
Fripp said the Gauchos have a good mix of returners and new blood.
Fripp is expecting big things from newcomers Johnni Gonzalez, a point guard from Kansas City; Ila Lane, a 6-4 post player from Moraga and Nyalam Thabach, a 6-3 athletic forward from Boise, Idaho.
“We’re just really, really looking forward to this year, so hopefully we’ll see you guys out and we can win some games,” said Fripp.
UCSB Women’s Volleyball
Coach Nicole Lantagne Welch said Friday night’s five-set loss at 19th-ranked Hawai’i was an incredible match that went down to the wire.
“The fifth set was never separated by, I think, more than one point until the very last serve, so it was everything you want in a volleyball match,” she said. “Our team put everything they had on the floor. We played hard, we played aggressive we played to win. We just came up on the wrong side.”
The Gauchos are in a three-way tie for first in the Big West with Hawai’i and Cal Poly. They play at Cal Poly on Saturday.
“I’m looking forward to seeing what we can bring up to Cal Poly,” Welch said. “We got them at home last time, and they’re very, very good in their home. I think they have some long streak there, but we’re ready to go in there and take it from them.”
Westmont Women’s Soccer
Coach Jenny Jaggard couldn’t say enough about Athlete of the Week Bri Johnson and her GSAC championship team.
“Bri is on fire right now, but what’s really exciting is we’ve got a lot of players that are on fire right now,” said Jaggard. “From a coaching perspective, it’s just really neat to see. In the last two games we’ve played, we’ve scored 12 goals, and those goals are coming from all over the field, from different people.”
She noted that Johnson is also playing great defense.
“One of the things I’m super proud about her is not only is she scoring goals but she’s also defending harder than just about any forward I’ve ever seen. So she really fits the complete package.”
She said the GSAC title was the first for the senior players, which made it extra special.
“They’re just a really good group of people and, hopefully, we’re moving on to even bigger and better things. We’ll just have to see one day at a time.”
The Warriors will host the GSAC Tournament next week.
Westmont Men’s Basketball
Coach John Moore announced that he’s beginning his 27th year at the helm.
“It means one thing… I’m old,” he cracked.
The Warriors won their first two games with five new starters, including four who are new to the program.
“It’s a very, very exciting opportunity,” he said “The expectations are really low — a nice place to be. And I think we’re going to survive.”
The Warriors are home Wednesday against a new program, Yellowstone Christian of Montana.
Westmont Men’s Soccer
The Warriors won their first undefeated GSAC title since 1989.
“They’re looking really strong going into the GSAC Tournament,” said Ron Smith, the school’s sports information director.
The tournament is at Westmont next week.
Westmont Women’s Volleyball
The Warriors are in a three-way tie for first place in the GSAC with two home matches remaining on Friday and Saturday.
“If we win out, we will be at least co-champions. The two other teams that we’re tied with have to play each other,” said Smith. “We have much smaller chance of actually hosting the GSAC tournament because we would likely lose out on the tiebreakers and be the number two seed.”
Friday’s match against Arizona Christian will be senior day, and the Warriors will honor their lone senior Cassidy Rea.
On Saturday, the Warriors play Ottawa University of Arizona at 2 p.m.
Westmont Baseball
On Saturday, the Warriors will hold their alumni game. Prior to the game at noon, the team will hold a celebration of life ceremony for longtime assistant Mel Gemberling, who passed away this fall.
SBCC Football
Coach Craig Moropoulos praised the play of wide receiver Cyrus Wallace in Saturday’s loss against Hancock.
“He’s a stalwart wide receiver. a big guy with a great attitude, and he’s playing big for us,” said Moropoulos.
The Vaqueros play at Santa Monica on Saturday.
“We got two games left. I think there’s gonna be some good things we just got to find a way to keep the ball in our hands,” said Moropoulos.
SBCC Women’s Basketball
The Vaqueros (2-1) have been led by former Santa Barbara High standouts Sophia Torres and Alondra Jimeenz in its first three games. Torres is averaging 17 points and 12.3 rebounds and Jimenez is averaging close to 15 points and handing out 4.3 assists.
Tori Kelly from Carpinteria and Sierra Cavaletto of Dos Pueblos are two other local players on the squad.
— Noozhawk Sports Editor Barry Punzal can be reached at bpunzal@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
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