Santa Barbara High girls basketball coach Andrew Butcher has been making visits to the Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table Press Luncheons for many years.
As he begins his 40th season, Butcher on Monday gave a little history lesson on the Ranchero Room at Harry’s Plaza Cafe, where the luncheon’s have been held for most of its 50-plus years.
“Not much has changed in his room,” he said as he gazed the walls. When he looked at wall behind him, he noticed the two large cabinet doors.
“This was the first big screen TV in Santa Barbara. It’s a legend. It was bigger and it looked horrible.”
He then looked up at the ceiling and reminisced some more.
“They put the skylights in and you couldn’t see (the TV picture) at all,” he said. “So then they had to put covers over the skylights so you could see the big horrible picture.
“Then they boxed it so you couldn’t see at it all.”
Butcher then got down to the business of taking about his talented basketball team. He has three players back, including three-time all-league guard Caia Trimble.
“Last year, she had only 15 turnovers for the entire season. For the third straight year, she was All-Channel League first team, so she’s an outstanding player,” he said.
Trimble had 10 assists in Santa Barbara’s win over Buena on Saturday.
“Just like coach (Craig) Moropoulos said, we’re good coaches when we have good players. So, when she’s on the floor, I’m a real good coach. When she’s out, not so good.”
Butcher has a new player who is going to make him look good.
Freshman Elle Stone, the daughter of Santa Barbara High football coach JT Stone, has scored 27 points in her first two games. She had a double-double of 27 points and 11 rebounds in her debut and followed with a game of 27 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.
“They say great players make the game look easy because they do the easy things. And she does the easy things,” said Butcher. “She dominates the game because she understands how the game is supposed to be played. And it’s just phenomenal.”
Adlen Godinez is the Dons’ starting center and team captain.
“She’s a terrific defender and one of our top rebounders,” said Butcher.
She’s also an early riser and gets up at 4:50 in the morning to work at Bre’Osh bakery.
“She is a phenomenal character person,” said Butcher.
The Dons (1-1) open play in the Lompoc Tournament on Thursday against a strong Piedmont team of San Jose.
SBCC FOOTBALL
Marcus Bellon is a special player for the SBCC football team
He’s so special that coach Craig Moropoulos realized Bellon would be great playing on special teams.
The freshman from Truckee didn’t disappoint his coach. He scored six of his team-leading 10 touchdowns on punt and kickoff returns during the regular season. He had one of each in the Vaqueros’ 49-19 win two weeks ago over Orange Coast that made them bowl eligible.
SBCC (7-3) accepted an invitation to play Palomar College (5-5) in the Chick-Fil A Festi-Bowl on Saturday at Escondido High School at 3 p.m.
Moropoulos said many of his players were flying back home after the Orange Coast game. After he got the announcement about the bowl game last weekend, he contacted everyone, and they all said they’d be returning to play in the game.
“Not one of the guys said they couldn’t come back,” he said. “So they’re all back and we’re practicing today at 4 o’clock.
“We’re going to play Saturday against Palomar, a very good football team. But we’re excited and proud of it.”
UCSB WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL
Assistant coach Matt Jones said it was a year in which the Gauchos “left something on the table.”
Even with a sweep of their two matches against Big West-champion Hawai’i and finishing with records of 21-11 overall and 17-3 in conference, the Gauchos didn’t get an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
“So, clearly we just didn’t get it done against a couple of teams lower than us in the conference, which is frustrating,” said Jones. “We don’t come here to take second. That’s not how we do it.
“But it’s a step in the right direction. We’ve gone from fifth to third to second in the last three years. And, next year, first is obviously the only option.”
SAN MARCOS GIRLS BASKETBALL
Coach Tiffany Simms introduced returning player Taya Schmidt, varsity newcomer Shreya Rajappa and Carly Nielsen, who is now an official varsity player after splitting time with the JVs last season.
The Royals have a busy start to their season, playing five games this week. They played Oxnard on Monday night, host St. Joseph’s on Tuesday and play Thursday through Saturday at the Fillmore Tournament.
“We’re just excited our season officially starts,” said Simms. “The girls are anxious to get on the court and show the hard work they’ve been working through over the summer.”
WESTMONT MEN’S BASKETBALL
Coach Landon Boucher’s Warriors are off to an 8-0 start, which includes a big win over GSAC rival The Master’s at Murchison Gym.
He said a key to that win was a statement senior Tyler Austin made before the game.
“Before every game, we have one player do a thought for the day,” said Boucher. “Basically, it’s just an open space for a player to share with the team a thought on their mind.
“Tyler had a great thought of the day. He said: ‘I’m not worried about anything on the stat sheet. I’m not worried about how many minutes I play. I’m not worried about how many points I score. I just want to win.’
“That was a powerful statement because he said he was going to do it and he did. But, also, everybody else bought in.”
The Warriors beat The Master’s, 78-66, with four players scoring in double figures and another scoring eight points.
The Warriors go on the road to Arizona to play NAIA fourth-ranked Arizona Christian and Ottawa.
BISHOP DIEGO GIRLS BASKETBALL
Coach Jeff Burich is super excited about his team this season.
In addition to several key players returning, members of the CIF-champion girls volleyball team have joined the squad.
“At 3:30 today, we have team pictures and it will be the first time we have everybody in the gym at the same time,” he said. “We’ve been missing at least two important players.
“I don’t think I’ve been as excited about a team as this one. We have no seniors, so just knowing you’re going to have everybody for at least two years is super exciting.
He introduced two players who have been important to the program for the last two years, juniors Citlali Morales and Lily Simolon.
“They were critical parts to our CIF championship run two years ago,” said Burich. “I don’t see any reason why anything lets up with these two. They play hard, they do everything the right way. I could not ask for better teammates.”
The Cardinals (1-4) host their annual Bird Cage Classic this week. They open with Carpinteria on Wednesday and play Cate on Thursday.
On Friday, they get a rematch with Holy Martyrs, the team that knocked them out of the playoffs in the spring.
They close out the tournament with a Saturday doubleheader against Coastal Christian and St. Bonaventure.
— Noozhawk sports editor Barry Punzal can be reached at bpunzal@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk Sports on Twitter: @NoozhawkSports. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
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