SBART Press Luncheon: Luke Zuffelato and Dayzia Mendoza Named Athletes Of the Week

Girls and Boys' Basketball Featured at Monday's Press Luncheon

Santa Barbara High's Luke Zuffelato and Dayzia Mendoza claim SBART Athlete of the Week Awards. | Credit: Courtesy

The Santa Barbara High basketball duo Luke Zuffelato and Dayzia Mendoza were named the SBART male and female athletes of the week at Monday’s press luncheon.

The sophomore Zuffelato had 23 points, including five 3-pointers in a loss to powerhouse St.John Bosco, and scored 22 in a win over St. Bonaventure, extending his streak of scoring 20-points or more to six games. He followed up the Athlete of the Week award with a 40 point performance in victory over Buena on Monday night.

“Words as a coach and a dad, he is a kid that I don’t know anybody that works harder,” said Santa Barbara boys’ basketball assistant coach Greg Zuffelato of his son Luke. “He puts a lot of time in. He probably shot 2,000 shots yesterday on a Sunday.”

Mendoza had a double-double of 19 points and14 rebounds in the Dons’ win over Lompoc, their first win of the season. She had 11 points, 13 boards in a win over Santa Ynez.

“With five minutes left in our last practice Wednesday two of our post players ran into each other and were out for the (Lompoc) tournament so I said to Daysia ‘you get to play center,’” said Santa Barbara girls’ basketball coach Andrew Butcher. “I don’t know what she averaged, maybe 15 rebounds a game and just played spectacularly well for us.”

Phil Womble Award

The Phil Womble Ethics in Sports award was presented to Carpinteria High multi-sport athlete Talon Trumble.

Trumble is a three-year varsity football player and two-year varsity baseball player, who was a captain on the football team and an All-Citrus Coast League quarterback. He is the oldest of six children and holds a 4.25 GPA.

“He is a quiet leader, but when he gets on the football field and puts on the helmet he is a different person,” said Carpinteria football coach Mario Robinson. “Every sprint, everything we do he is always in the lead. He’s always in front, he pushes his teammates, he encourages and provides positive reinforcement.”

Cardinals Fly High

The Bishop Diego girls’ basketball team has started the season with a 10-1 record. The Cardinals’ lone set back of the season was a 46-44 loss to Santa Maria that they avenged on Saturday with a 59-41 victory over that same Santa Maria team.

“Very fun team to coach. We went 5-0 in our tournament this past week,” said Bishop Diego girls’ basketball coach Jeff Burich. “These kids are just playing really well. It’s a fun team to be around; they just get along and I couldn’t be happier to work with these girls.”

Westmont Women Dominate

The No. 2 ranked Westmont women’s basketball team matched up with The Master’s in a battle of unbeatens on Wednesday November, 30 and came away with a 71-45 victory.

Stefanie Berarabe led the way for Westmont with 16 points, which put her at 1400 points for her career. That moved her into fourth place on the Westmont all-time scoring list.

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