The weekend wasn’t exactly rosy for the Santa Monica High School girls basketball team. Playing on two consecutive nights at home, the Lady Vikings went 0-2, losing 58-61 in overtime to Inglewood on Friday, then falling to La Jolla Country Day 64-51 on Saturday.
In the physical contest against Country Day (19-3) and its twin stars Malina and Maya Hood, Samohi (15-8; 4-2) got off to a slow start and trailed 38-17 at halftime before turning it up in the third as Moriah Faulk found her rhythm. The Lady Vikings closed the lead to 8 points, 44-52, with just under 5 minutes left in the game. But the Hood twins overpowered Samohi’s defense inside and wouldn’t let Samohi get second chances on offense.
“After a slow start, we battled back but couldn’t get over the hump,” said Samohi head coach Marty Verdugo.
Faulk led the team with 15 points, while Kristina Johnson scored 11 and Bianka Balthazar and Briana Harris had 8 apiece. For Country Day, Kelsey Plum poured in 23 points while the Hood twins combined for 33 points.
The Lady Vikings next play Culver City on Wednesday at 6 p.m. Culver City is tied for first place in Ocean League with Inglewood. With a win and an Inglewood loss, Samohi can move into first or second place in the league with three games remaining on the season.
