SAMOHI — The accolades keep coming in for Santa Monica High School’s girls basketball team.
Fresh off winning the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section Division 1A title, the Samohi Vikings dominated this year’s All-Ocean League team.
Star guard Thea Lemberger was named MVP of the league, Head Coach Marty Verdugo was tapped as coach of the year, juniors Kristina Johnson and Moriah Faulk were named to the first team and senior Lilly Feder was selected as second team. The Vikings went 10-0 in league play.
“This is really exciting for us,” Verdugo said. “It’s nice to be recognized by your peers.”
It was literally a banner season for the team that advanced to the third round of the CIF State Championships before losing to Clovis West. The team is planning a ceremony this spring to hoist the championship banner to the rafters of the school’s gym. It is the first title in the girls basketball program’s history.
“It is obviously cool,” Lemberger said of the award. “To me, the individual awards aren’t a big deal. A team accomplishment is better than the individual awards, but this is nice.”
All CIF-SS teams will be announced on Monday with a number of Samohi players expected to be on that list, unnamed sources said.
