Oxnard Successful in Talent Search

High school basketball coaches take note: Your next star might already be on campus.

That’s where the Oxnard High girls’ team found Memory Rhone.

Rhone, a three-year starter, had little experience and even less confidence as a freshman, so she went out for the cheerleading squad instead.

Coach Ryle Lynch-Cole convinced her to trade in the pom-poms for a basketball.

“He’s great at finding raw talent,” assistant Richard Arias said. “Ryle is always out looking in P.E. classes and around campus for natural athletes.

“If he finds an athlete, he can do the rest.”

Rhone, a 6-foot senior who was an All-Pacific View League forward last season, has been a key player for the Yellowjackets (17-5, 5-0 in league play), who need one victory to clinch a share of their second consecutive Pacific View title.

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Lynch-Cole might have a knack for finding potential players, but he has been less successful collecting on an old debt.

Several years ago, he and Coach Pat Bell of Channel Islands would diagram plays and compare strategies.

Instead of a regulation court and real players, they would use a tabletop and five pennies.

“I guess I accidentally picked up his five pennies one time and never brought them back,” Bell said.

“He’s been after me for them ever since.”