Can the Vikings Slay Another Giant?

After defending champion Long Beach Poly on Wednesday, the girls basketball team enters Tuesday's riding a tidal wave of confidence.

The Vikings, who won the Division 1A crown last winter, are after their second straight section title. They have added motivation to win this year for head coach Marty Verdugo, who is after the season.

Standing in Santa Monica's path, however, is an opponent perhaps even more formidable than the second-seeded Jackrabbits, who were ranked as high as No. 2 in the country before being vanquished by the Vikings last week.

Now seventh-seeded Santa Monica (22-8) must get past third-seeded Santa Ana Mater Dei (27-1), a team that averages 73.3 points per game and hasn't lost since Dec. 21. What's more, the Monarchs beat Santa Monica 70-54 in January.

All signs point to a Mater Dei victory, except for one: The Monarchs' only defeat was to Long Beach Poly, the team the seventh-seeded Vikings just eliminated. Clearly, the challenge for Verdugo's squad will be maintaining its high level of play for four quarters. The Vikings have won seven games in a row, including playoff victories over Rancho Verde (52-39), Laguna Hills (59-47) and Poly (57-56).

The Trinity League champion Monarchs, who have won 19 consecutive games, are led by Connecticut-bound Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and USC signee Alexys Vaioletama. Santa Monica, which finished runner-up to Inglewood in the Ocean League, is led by Moriah Faulk (14 points per game) and Bianka Balthazar, who hit the game-winning free throw with 0.4 seconds left against Poly.

In addition to their head-to-head meeting, the teams share several common opponents. The Vikings split with Long Beach Poly (losing in the regular season 65-48 before exacting revenge in last week's quarterfinals) while the Monarchs suffered their only loss to the Jackrabbits.

Santa Monica beat Mayfair by 19 points and Mater Dei beat Mayfair by 36 points. Santa Monica beat Bishop Montgomery by eight points and Mater Dei beat the Knights by 38 points. Bolingbrook of Illinois defeated Santa Monica 59-48 in a tournament while Mater Dei ousted the Raiders, 61-48. La Jolla Country Day of the San Diego Section beat Santa Monica 64-51 but lost to the Monarchs 68-54.

Mater Dei looks like the better team on paper, but games are decided on the court, not on the stat sheets. If the Vikings play like they did against Poly, they will have a chance to pull off yet another monumental upset.

Tuesday's game tips off at 4:45 p.m. at the Anaheim Convention Center. The winner will face either top-seeded Brea Olinda (28-0) or fourth-seeded Canyon Springs (27-2) of Moreno Valley in the championship game Friday at 8:45 p.m.