Three of the best players on Santa Monica High’s highly-regarded girls basketball team are injured, and the Vikings lost games on Jamuary 14 and 17.
Samohi was defeated by Inglewood by 13 points in an Ocean League game and then lost to Bellarmine-Jefferson, 63-56 in Samohi’s Extravaganza.
The latter game was tied at halftime, and after the visitors pulled away Jennie Harding and Thea Lemberger sparked a Samohi rally that made the game competitive to the finish. Lemberger scored 28 points.
“We lost in our own event, but it was great that we could arrange five high-caliber games here in one day,” said Samohi coach Marty Verdugo. “I hope we can do this every year.”
In the Extravaganza Beverly Hills defeated Redondo, Culver City defeated Gahr, Inglewood beat Harvard-Westlake, and Pacific Hills also won its game.
Samohi,which has an 11-4 record, is without Lilly Feder (back injury) and Sabrina Norton (broken wrist). Most recently Ellesse Brandis, who likely has a future playing college basketball, was also injured.
The Vikings could still be a factor in the league race but aren’t as powerful inside.
Norton, a 5-foot-10 freshman, is the daughter of USC assistant football coach and former star UCLA and NFL player Ken Norton Jr.
Feder is the sister of Daisy Feder, the Ocean League Player of the Year last season who is now at UC San Diego.
