You won’t find individuality on Sandrine Krul’s keys to success. The team and the system — those are her mantras. Krul has guided the SBCC women’s basketball team to an average of 20 wins in her first five seasons (101-58) and four straight playoff appearances.
“We have a roster of 14 and all of them can play lots of minutes,” said Krul. “We run a system and they all fit that system. This team is more athletic than last year but they’re younger. Once they understand our defensive and offensive philosophies, they’re going to learn that when you play Santa Barbara, you have to beat the system. You don’t beat Jake Kelly, you don’t beat Frannie DeAngelis, you beat a system.
“Once they get that down, they’ll understand their role.”
The Vaqueros return four players and one starter (DeAngelis) off last year’s squad that went 22-13 and took third in the WSC North with an 8-4 record. The other returners are 5-6 guard Chelsea Hewitt (Santa Ynez High), 5-11 Brittany Stephenson and 5-8 guard Giovanna Aplin, who redshirted last year.
Janelle Wong (stress fracture) and Imelda Bealer (shoulder), two standouts from last season, are redshirting.
SBCC will open its campaign on Friday, Oct. 13 in its eight-team MTXE Tournament, which features four games Friday and Saturday, starting at 1 p.m. The Vaqueros, ranked 18th in the state, will take on Long Beach City at 7 p.m. Friday.
“Long Beach has seven players but don’t let that deceive you,” said Krul. “They’re athletic, they have a Div. 2 bounceback from Cal St. San Bernardino and guards who are really quick.
“We have to transition, transition, transition and not worry about their seven. We have to worry about our system, which is based on defensive transition and offensive freedom.
DeAngelis will start on Friday, along with point guard Jasmine Johnson, Aplin, 6-foot forward Mara Lux and 5-11 Bridget Conlan. Point guard Jake Kelly, who made the Big West All-Freshman team at Pacific, will miss the opener because she’s playing libero on the sixth-ranked women’s volleyball squad, which has a match at Hancock on Friday.
Hewitt, Stephenson and Jennifer Stevens will be the first players off the bench. “Brittany’s really sick or she would be starting,” noted Krul. “I’ve got three girls that I call ‘The Trio’ coming off the bench and I can’t wait to watch them. They’ll make things happen and our level of play won’t go down.”
The Trio consists of Lux (the rebounder), Stevens (utility player) and Hewitt (the shooter). “Chelsea has shown the most improvement from last year,” Krul said.
The Vaqueros also feature a 6-3 post player in Leigh Cullinan of Honolulu and 5-10 Arsema Berhane, a solid shooter from Sweden.
DeAngelis, Aplin and Kelly are the captains.
“We have solid leadership,” added Krul. “Forget the Xs and Os, it’s the leadership that’s going to carry this team. The key to success will be everyone knowing their role and playing within the system.”
