Coach Bianca Ziemaan is in her 3rd season at Crean Lutheran and 4th overall season coaching at the high school level. Prior to coaching high school basketball, she was a Division 1 basketball coach for six seasons: 2 years Southern Utah University, one year Loyola Marymount University, 2 years at the University of Oregon and her final season at Santa Clara University. As an athlete Coach Ziemaan was a dual athlete (Basketball and Track) where she earned State, CIF and Sunset League honors and accolades. Coach Ziemaan went on to play for Loyola Marymount University as their point guard for four seasons. At Loyola Marymount University she was able to capture the Lions first WCC Title, WCC Tournament Championship and NCAA berth. At the conclusion of her collegiate career, Coach Ziemaan played professionally overseas for Amazone, Netherlands from 2006-2007. She led the team to a Final Four and Semi-final appearance and started in the Netherlands All-Star game. More importantly, she achieved her BA in Business Management and is currently working towards two Masters degrees: Coaching and Administration as well as Exercise Science.
Coach Rachael Ziemaan is in her 3rd season at Crean Lutheran and 4th overall season coaching at the high school level. Prior to coaching high school basketball, she was an assistant basketball coach for four seasons: 3 years at Central Washington University and 1 year at Southern Utah University. As an athlete, Rachael was a dual athlete (Basketball and Track) where she earned State, CIF and Sunset League honors and accolades. Due to her hard work, she was honored with a Division 1 Scholarship where she played for Loyola Marymount University. Her efforts lead the Lions to their first WCC Title, WCC Tournament Championship, and NCAA berth. More importantly, she achieved her BA in Business Management and MS in Health, Human Performance & Recreation Sports & Athletic Administration.
Coach Wright is a former professional basketball player having played internationally for several years. He also has coached and trained players internationally and for the last 20 years has trained professional, college, and high school players in Southern California, including Kobe Bryant.
Ben played 3 varsity sports at Carlmont High School (Belmont, Ca) where he earned all-league honors in Football, Basketball, and Baseball over the course of his career. During his Sr. season he was named the school Athlete of the Year after playing 3 sports and being named the league (PAL – Pacific Athletic League) Player of the Year in Baseball. He received his bachelor’s degree from San Diego State and his master’s from Azusa Pacific University. He also played four years of College Baseball before being drafted out of SDSU to play professionally by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 12 th round of the 2001 draft. Over the span of 9 years (professionally) Ben played for 5 different teams (St. Louis, New York Yankees, Florida, Minnesota, and Colorado) and was in AAA with 3 different teams. After his playing career, Ben served as the pitching coach at Laguna Beach HS from 2011-2016 capping his career with a CIF title in 2016. In the community, Julianel coaches his kids in various sports. Ben is married to Christy Julianel (Pfrenzinger) who played and won two CIF championships in Volleyball at Santa Margarita Catholic HS before attending San Diego State on a Volleyball scholarship. They have three kids Gwen, Vance, and Reeve.
Seyram Bell is currently the head girls basketball coach at Santa Margarita Catholic High School. Bell comes to Santa Margarita from UC Riverside, where she coached the women’s basketball team since 2010. While starting as an assistant coach in 2010, Bell worked her way up to associate head coach in 2017 before being named the interim head coach in 2019.
Bell played for Sylmar High School, where she was a two-time league MVP and a team captain for the basketball and track and field teams. She then played collegiately at UC Riverside, where she earned Big West All-Conference honors several times. After college, she played professionally in Greece for one season before beginning her coaching career.
Christina Wear (Marinacci) grew up in Tustin, California where she attended Foothill High School where she still holds the record for all-time leading scorer and rebounder. She was Orange County Player and Athlete of the Year as well as a McDonald’s All-American her senior year of high school. She played at the University of Southern California where she was a 3-time Captain and 4-year starter. Christina continued to compete professionally overseas playing her first three years in Luxembourg where she earned MVP of the league her first year and won multiple Cup and League Championships. In the 2016-2017 season, she played for a team in Madrid, Spain, where her husband, David, also played. She lived overseas for a total of six years living in countries such as Luxembourg, Spain, Japan and Australia. After moving home, she started a career working for Hyperice while still coaching and teaching basketball to those in the community.
Coach Cathy is going into her 10th year of coaching High School Basketball. She graduated from Westminster High School where she coached for 2 years. This will be her 4th season as a Varsity Assistant at Sage Hill School. Her goal as a coach is to develop players skills, build their work ethic, and help individuals work together as a team. Cathy is a graduate of Concordia University of Irvine where she received a Master’s in Coaching and Athletic Administration.
Markum was previously the head coach, head of basketball development and assistant athletic director at Fairmont SJC. Prior to his stint at Fairmont, Markum was the head boys basketball coach and associate athletic director at Saddleback Valley Christian (which was purchased by Fairmont Schools in 2020) from 2015-2020. Markum was named the 2017-2018 San Joaquin League Coach of The Year, oversaw a 21-win turnaround in two years and coached and developed 40 all-league players during his tenure.
Markum also is the Assistant High School Director and Head High School Coach for Team Nikos, an AAU affiliated program and a dynamic and rapidly growing youth basketball organization based in South Orange County. Team Nikos comprises 23 teams and more than 200 youth athletes in Ladera Ranch.
Markum competed at Trinity International University in Chicago, and played his high school ball at Saddleback Valley Christian, where he graduated with 16 school records.
“Josh Markum is a great coach, but more importantly, an incredible person,” said St. Margaret’s Director of Athletics Chris Nordstrom. “He will be a tremendous addition to our staff, and I am confident in his ability to lead our girls basketball program to an exciting future.”
“I am very excited to be part of St. Margaret’s and joining the successful athletic tradition here,” said Coach Markum. “I am looking forward to building on that tradition and the future successes to come.”
Brian brings 25 plus years of coaching, playing, and training experience. Brian has worked with some of the premier talent and coaches across the country as well as locally. Serving as a college consultant/recruiting liaison Brian has helped many athletes connect and land at 4-year universities. Most recently Brian played an integral role for national powerhouse Mater Dei High School’s back-to-back Open Division CIF Championships. Brian acted as Assistant Coach and was responsible for Player Development. He’s also run USC Nike Elite camps, coached Men’s Basketball at Fullerton and Cypress College as well Boys Basketball at Loara High School. Brian’s philosophy and passion for coaching, teaching, and supporting student-athletes will be incredibly beneficial to the basketball community.
Brad Johnson is entering his third year at Aliso Niguel High School, and his 14th coaching high school basketball. Coach Johnson began coaching in 2008 at Big Bear High School where he spent seven years with the boys’ program as the Junior Varsity coach and Varsity assistant. From there, Coach Johnson switched over to the Girls program and spent one year as the Junior Varsity coach before taking over as the Head Varsity coach. In his first year as Head Coach, the team finished with a 20-4 record, winning their first league championship in 41 years- the second championship overall in school history. Coach Johnson was named Cross Valley Coach of the Year that same season. Prior to coming to Aliso, Coach Johnson served as the Head Junior Varsity coach and assisted the varsity boys at El Toro High School.
Outside of high school coaching, Coach Johnson worked as the Recreation Coordinator at Big Bear Recreation and Park District from 2012-2017 where he ran youth and adult sports programs, including year-round youth basketball leagues and tournaments.
Coach Johnson is an alumnus of Big Bear High School where he played from 2003-2007.
Coach Kiernan will begin his 14th season at Mater Dei High School in 2019-20 and he has made an indelible mark on a program that is incredibly rich in tradition. Coach Kiernan’s tenure at Mater Dei has been nothing short of remarkable. Coach Kiernan has won two National Championships, three State Championships, five CIF Championships and six Southern California Regional Championships. The 2019-20 season ended with a 30-3 overall record, 13th consecutive Trinity League Championship (7-1) and 2020 CIF Open Division Championship, the 1st one in school history. Coach Kiernan became the all time winningest girls basketball coach in California History this past 2019-2020 season. In 2011, Coach Kiernan was selected as the Orange County Register and Los Angeles Times Coach of the Year as well as the CIF Division 1AA Coach of the Year and the National High School Coaches Association National Coach of the Year.
In 13 years at Mater Dei, Coach Kiernan’s teams are 374-45, and he owns a 864-174 career record. In 2011 Mater Dei became the first girls basketball team in five years to finish No. 1 in the USA Today Super 25 in consecutive seasons, and the newspaper also named Coach Kiernan its National Coach of the Year in 2010. Further, in 2006 Coach Kiernan was named the WBCA High School Coach of the Year.
While at Troy High School Coach Kiernan had 24 of his players go on to play college basketball and has sent 35+ Mater Dei players to the college ranks.
Kiernan’s Accomplishments:
Mater Dei HS – 13 Seasons
Troy HS – 11 Seasons
