VALENCIA — Samohi’s girls’ basketball team finished fifth at the Valencia High Five Classic over the weekend.
The 47-43 win over a favored Saugus team gave the Vikings a 3-1 record during the 12-team tournament.
“We’ve been very balanced,” Samohi head coach Marty Verdugo said. “We made a big step forward.”
The other two tourney wins were over Knight and Kennedy. The Vikings’ only loss came at the hands of Royal, which overcame a double digit deficit to top Samohi.
Verdugo said that Aniese Palmore led the team during the tournament. He added that she is growing into her role as point guard and leader of this year’s edition of Viking basketball.
During the Kennedy win, Palmore was able to pour in 20 points, the highest-scoring game of the season for any Viking.
“It’s her team now,” Verdugo said of Palmore’s role. “She’s starting to embrace it.”
Next for Samohi is the Battle at the Beach tournament, which begins today. The Vikings face J Serra at 5:30 p.m. at Redondo Union High School.
The Vikings are the defending tournament champs.
‘The Tournament’ in full gear
Samohi’s annual “The Tournament” resumes Tuesday with a full slate of boys’ basketball games.
Samohi played opening night on Monday against Cleveland, but results from that game were not available at presstime.
Today’s schedule:
• Alemany vs. Birmingham: 3:30 p.m.
• Corona Centenniall vs. Palisades: 5 p.m.
• El Camino Real vs. Eisenhower: 6:30 p.m.
• Loyola vs. East Bakersfield: 8 p.m.
daniela@www.smdp.com