Third time is definitely not a charm, as the Santa Monica High School’s girls’ basketball team lost for the third time this season to Santa Ana Mater Dei.
Already losing to them once in the regular season, Samohi’s had both its CIF playoff runs this season come to an end again at the hands of Mater Dei, as the Lady Monarchs defeated the Lady Vikings, 57-41, in the second round of the Southern California Regionals on March 10 at Mater Dei High School.
Coming into the third match against Mater Dei, the Lady Vikings hoped it would prevent the Lady Monarchs from jumping out to an early lead as it did in the first two contests. Indeed, Samohi kept it competitive early, trailing 10-8 at the end of the first quarter.
However, Mater Dei outscored Samohi 12-4 in the second quarter to claim a 22-12 lead at halftime.
Just as in the previous two games, the Lady Vikings (23-10) were not able to put together a run in the second half.
Moriah Faulk, who will be at UCLA in the fall, played her last game as a Viking; she led all scorers with 20 points.
Mater Dei, who improved to 31-1, were led by Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, who had 16 point; Alexyz Vaioletama added 13 points and Kiki Alofaituli scored 11.
Lady Monarch junior guard Jordan Adams suffered a shoulder injury in the game.
The Lady Vikings lost to Mater Dei, 57-37, in the semifinal game of the CIF Southern Section Division 1AA playoffs on March 1 at Anaheim Arena; the Lady Monarchs also defeated Samohi, 70-34, in its regular season match up in Santa Ana on Jan. 8.
