Naomi Hernandez is a senior guard at Valley Lutheran High School. This past Friday night she set a new school scoring record.
Naomi has increased her scoring each year and is sitting a shade under 25 points per/game this season, but Naomi isn’t just a basketball player. Like so many other small-school athletes, she has been a key player on her volleyball and softball teams, and above all, an excellent student with a 4.0 CUM GPA.
Her head coach, Ed Measel, has had nothing but great things to say about her on and off the court.
I talked to coach Measel recently, and he had this to say - "Naomi Hernandez is a senior at Valley Lutheran High School. She’s been playing varsity basketball for all four years of her career, and just set the school record for most points in a career. Naomi currently stands at 1,405 with (7) more regular season games left, and the state playoffs around the corner. She is currently averaging 24.4 points per game, and sits out most of the 4th quarter," said Coach Measel.
He went on to say, "Omi” as we call her, stands about 5-6, and is one of the best athletes in the state from the off-guard position. She has helped make our program one of the top in 2A over her (4) years. The only thing that may stop her from winning (20) plus games in (4) straight seasons is COVID😞. Multiple college coaches have reached out to me about Naomi, but now the ball is in her court if she would like to continue her basketball career. To me, the thing I most appreciate about Omi is the love and respect for her teammates. She doesn’t treat them as anything else but her family. Naomi is a great Christian athlete with strong morals, great family values and has a true love of life. Omi is a great student and carries a 4.0 GPA, plays guitar in the school band, sings, and is a terrific artist. This girl is going places."
That kind of praise doesn’t come easily and speaks volumes as to the kind of person this young athlete is. I’ll be paying attention to see where this young lady chooses to continue her education and basketball career in the years to come.
Valley Lutheran will likely win out the rest of their games this season and head into the state playoffs. I see them likely going deep into the playoffs, and they have my best of luck and wishes as they shoot for the Ship.
