The slogan is the same on all of Karisma Lewis’ social media accounts:
“God made. 805 raised.”
The four-star basketball recruit from Oak Park High School can now add, “And 805 I shall remain.”
Lewis, ranked among the top-10 high school shooting guards in the country, stunned the college basketball recruiting world on Friday by announcing her commitment to play for UC Santa Barbara next year.
Her family ties to the Gauchos date back to when her mother, Melissa Lewis, was a club basketball teammate with current UCSB coach Renee Jimenez as a fifth grader in Ventura.
“This moment is extra special because it’s not just about basketball — it’s about family and history,” Karisma Lewis said in her announcement on X (formerly known as Twitter).
She thanked Jimenez in her post before adding, “Back in 1991, when you and my mom first started playing basketball together, a foundation was being set for me to be here today. It has all come full circle.”
Melissa Lewis said UCSB became one of her daugher’s favorite schools when Jimenez’s predecessor, Bonnie Henrickson, had her scouted as a 13-year-old.
“She was playing in the Nike YBL Tournament in Chicago,” her mother recalled. “The baseline had all these chairs for the recruiters, but they were all empty — no one is coming to Court 88 in the back — except for one.
“I have a photo of one of Bonnie’s assistants watching her play that day. UCSB has literally been there since day one.”
The Gauchos were momentarily crossed off their list when Henrickson retired after the 2023-24 season.
“And then they hired Renee,” Melissa added, “and I was like, ‘Oh, this is a game changer! … I don’t know how you top that!’”
Lewis has been coached since age 11 by her stepfather, George Albanez, who is entering his 30th year as the director and coach of the 805 Family club basketball program.
He pointed out that Karisma has trained every day the last two summers with Alyssa Marin, who graduated from UCSB last spring after earning All-Big West Conference honors as a point guard.
“Alyssa’s from Camarillo,” Albanez said. “We were her biggest cheerleaders.”
Lewis made official visits to such power-conference schools as Oregon, Mississippi State and Arkansas… but not to UCSB.
Albanez said she has already attended “hundreds” of Gaucho games.
“Renee asked me last week, ‘Doesn’t she want to take an official visit here?’” Albanez said. “I told her, ‘Why would we visit home? You don’t go visit your kitchen … We’ve cooked in there for a long time.’
“After visiting the SEC, after visiting with Kelly Graves up at Oregon — she was my daughter Keani’s coach at Gonzaga — after being recruited by all these great people, it came down to family.”
Lewis, a 5-foot-10 guard, was listed at No. 44 for the class of 2026 by 247 Sports in a composite of all the rankings of the major recruiting services.
She also averaged out as the nation’s No. 7 shooting guard and as the No. 6 overall recruit from California. ESPN’s SportsCenter NEXT 100 currently ranks Lewis at No. 55 nationally.
She scored better than 20 points per game in each of her three seasons at Buena High School. Lewis led the Bulldogs to a 23-5 record last season by averaging 23.0 points and six rebounds.
She transferred to Oak Park Independent School this fall, however, after her family moved to Camarillo.
Oak Park’s new coach is April McDivitt Schilling, the starting point guard for UCSB’s NCAA Sweet 16 team of 2003-2004. Schilling played for three different WNBA teams and also served as an assistant coach for the Indiana Fever and Dallas Wings.
She moved to California when her husband, Ed Schilling, was hired as the head men’s coach at Pepperdine in April of 2024.
“I’m from Santa Barbara and I’m the biggest Gaucho fan of all,” Albanez said. “The stars were all aligned for this.
“It’s like a Disney movie.”