Krul Wins Coach of the Year, Five Vaqueros Earn WSC North Honors
By Jimmy Friery
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The Western State Conference (WSC) announced its 2025-26 Women's Basketball awards on Saturday, and the No. 21 Vaqueros are well-represented. Head coach Sandrine Krul was named WSC North Coach of the Year for the third time (2006, 2010).
It is no fluke, either. This season is the second consecutive that Santa Barbara—currently 21-7—will finish with more than 20 wins. The only team to beat them in WSC North play was conference champion No. 4 Moorpark. The Vaqueros' 10-2 conference record is their best since 2009-2010, the last time Krul won Coach of the Year.
With aggressive defensive play a staple of Krul's teams, Santa Barbara finished the regular season at the top of conference's team statistics. They forced the most turnovers (22.4 per game), swiped the most steals (12.6 per game), and grabbed the most defensive rebounds (27.8 per game).
Freshman guard Khaya Jackson earned the title of 6th Player of the Year. Despite playing 18.8 minutes per game, she averaged nearly 10 points per game—9.7, to be exact—shooting 35.4 percent. On the defensive end, she earned one steal per game.
Three Vaqueros earned All-Conference First Team honors. Aariah Fox and Kaylee Lawson each made the team for the second time, and sophomore Milan Jackson joined them this year.
Fox, a sophomore from the small town of Angels Camp, was the only WSC North player to have more than 10 rebounds per game (10.1). She also led the conference with 82 steals (three per game) and had the third-best shooting percentage at 48.1 percent.
Lawson, a sophomore from San Ramon, won conference Defensive Player of the Year in 2024-25, following that up this year finishing fourth in the conference in blocks (24). Offensively, she was not bad either; her 13.8 points per game led the team and were third-best in the conference.
Milan Jackson, a sophomore from Hercules in the Bay Area, ended with 11.2 points per game, good for second on the team. An efficient shooter, she shot at a 39.1 percent clip and 73.3 from the line, fourth-best in the conference.
Sophomore guard Siena Hoban was named an Honorable Mention, but even that title might not have done her performance justice. She easily led the WSC in assists with 103 (3.8 per game), significantly more than second-best 87. Hoban's 66 steals—behind Fox's 82—were good for third in the conference.
The Vaqueros made the 3C2A playoffs as SoCal's No. 9 seed, but were administratively moved to the No. 10 seed to avoid playing WSC North rival Ventura in the first round. Instead, the Vaqueros will host 23-seeded Fullerton on Wednesday at 5 p.m. in Rob Gym.