FRESNO — Santa Monica High School’s girls basketball team lost to Clovis West, 61-57, in the semi-finals of the CIF State Championships Southern Region on Saturday.
Clovis West advances to face Long Beach Poly in the SoCal final next Saturday at USC’s Galen Center. Samohi lost to Long Beach Poly in the first round of last season’s State Championships.
Samohi finishes the season as CIF-SS Division 1A champions, the first girls basketball title in school history. The Vikings complete the season 28-7 overall and a perfect 10-0 in Ocean League play.
The team will lose a pair of key senior starters in Thea Lemberger and Lilly Feder. Lemberger has committed to play for UCLA. Ironically, Lemberger will play Pac-10 games against USC at the Galen Center next season. Fellow senior Lilly Feder will join sister and former Samohi standout Daisy Feder at UC San Diego next year.
Among the key Viking returners will be Kristina Johnson, Moriah Faulk, Bianka Balthazar and Brianna Harris.