Last week was special for five SBCC women's basketball players who committed to four-year schools and graduated in the span of four days.
Aaliyah Pauling and Lei Talaro received merit-based scholarships from La Verne University, Meagan Moore is going to San Diego Christian, Jennae Mayberry will play for Cententary College of Louisiana and Maaria Jaakkola got an academic scholarship from UC Berkeley.
Pauling and Moore were first-team All-WSC North selections on the 2018-19 Vaquero squad that went 16-11. Pauling led the team in scoring (15.4), rebounding (5.4) and assists (4.1).
"Aaliyah and Lei both got merit-based scholarships for academics and they will play with former Vaquero Hannah Rogers, who played for La Verne last year," said SBCC coach Sandrine Krul. "So that's truly exciting."
Moore, a 5-7 sophomore from Arlington, Texas, was a two-year starter. She averaged 10.6 points last season.
"The head coach at San Diego Christian coached two of my players years ago when he was the assistant at Minot State," explained Krul. "They're an NAIA school and Meagan received academic and athletic money to continue her career in both areas.
"Jennae is off to Centenary College, which is an amazing school for her major in elementary education. She received two merit-based scholarships to continue her academic and athletic career."
Jaakkola, a sophomore guard/forward from Finland and Santa Barbara High, averaged 5.2 points and led the Vaqueros in 3-point shooting at 40.8%.
"Getting an academic scholarship to Cal is impressive," said Krul. "We are so excited for her to continue on her academic endeavor."
Krul was beaming with pride about her sophomore class.
"They allowed me to challenge them and champion them," she said. "They exhibited what the student-athlete is all about: MTXE in the classroom and MTXE on the basketball court. That's a recipe for success."
MTXE is the Vaqueros' basketball motto and it means "Mental Toughness, Extra Effort."
Lei Talaro, Jennae Mayberry, Maaria Jaakkola and Meagan Moore at SBCC graduation.
