2008-09 Girls Basketball Coach of the Year: Orange Lutheran's Matson

Orange Lutheran coach Tony Matson had some talented players heading into the 2008-09 season, but most of them were young and untested at the varsity level.

So it was hard for Matson to know what to expect from this year's group. Matson was able to get his players to buy into his unselfish brand of play and they turned into one of the best teams in the school's history.

The Lancers started off the season with a 15-game winning streak, which included winning the John Glenn, Santa Barbara and Savanna tournaments. Orange Lutheran played in the Trinity League, the toughest league in the county, and the Lancers took second place behind Mater Dei. For an idea of how big of an accomplishment that was, all five Trinity League teams reached at least the CIF-SS semifinals.

Orange Lutheran ended up reaching the CIF-SS Division IV-AA finals before losing to Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks. It was the first time the Lancers had reached the finals since 1981. The Lancers finished with an overall record of 25-4.

These are all reasons why Matson was selected The Register's 2008-09 girls basketball coach of the year.

"It was a great ride," said Matson, who has a record of 197-75 and five league championships in 10 seasons at Orange Lutheran.

Matson gives tons of credit for the team's success to assistant coach Tom Howard.

"I have a great on-campus assistant coach," Matson said of Howard. "He does a great job for me.

"With their P.E. class, he's with them every day. I'm not there every day with them in the offseason. He does a great job for us, just getting us the fundamentals. He's a great fundamental coach. He gets us fundamentally ready to play and then I'll come in during the summertime and during the season."

The Lancers will lose Skye Atchley and Kimmi Cordova to graduation, but they return everybody else, including center Savannah King and guards Krissy Karr and Natalie Luzar. So expect to see the Lancers as a competitive force in the county once again next season.

Matson said his fondest memory of this year's Lancers was how much fun they had with each other.

"They weren't always totally � I guess the word is focused," Matson said. "Going into practices they weren't always hardcore about what they were doing. They liked to be light-hearted. They liked to have fun. They liked to goof around a little bit.

"But they knew when it was time to put on a game face. They knew when it was time to play at a high level. So what I appreciated about them is they were able to take their personality - their light-hearted, fun-loving personality - and make that work for them as basketball players."

Contact the writer: carias@ocregister.com