Back row, left to right: Asst. Coach Sam Harrison, Asst. Coach Jody Wooton, Annissa Garcia, Afure Jemerigbe, Kendall Kenyon, Chelsea Gray, Head Coach Tom Gonsalves, Asst. Coach Tim Evans. Middle row: Onome Jemerigbe, Emily Gonsalves, Unique Coleman, Ali Gibson, Krista Rigsbee, Regina Camera. Front row: Gabby Zanini, Alle Moreno, Sabrina Visperas, Marrissa Ocon.
2009-10 St. Mary’s High School Girls Basketball Team
The 2009-10 St. Mary’s High School Girls Basketball Team, coached by Tom Gonzalves, finished their season with a 34-1 record. They defeated most teams by big margins, including winning the State Division III championship game by a score of 89-41 over Bishop Amat of Southern California.
This was St. Mary’s sixth State Title and their second in a row. They won their last 25 games by double digits and for the season had a winning margin of 39.1 points per game. Their only loss was to Mater Dei of Southern California in their eighth game of the season in the Nike Tournament in Arizona, by a score of 60-66. They were ranked #1 in the country by USA Today, ESPN’s Rise Fab 50, and MaxPreps.com’s Xcellent 25.
A Chicago-based media organization named St. Mary’s the Team of the Year at the 2010 All-Star Catholic High School Sports Faith Hall of Fame.
The starters, four seniors and one junior, had a 4.0-plus grade point average in high school. All went on to play in Division I at the college level.
Chelsea Gray and Afure Jemerigbe were named McDonald’s All-Americans. Other team members who went on to play Division I basketball at the college level in addition to Chelsea Gray (Duke) and Afure Jemerigbe (California) were Unique Coleman (UOP), Alie Gibson (Oregon), Kendall Kenyon (UOP), and Alle Moreno (Sacramento State).
Chelsea Gray currently plays for the professional Los Angeles Sparks team. Afure Jemerigbe played professionally with the CB Al-Qazeres team in Spain after graduation from University of California. Kendall Kenyon played professionally in Europe in 2015-16 for the Keltern-German team.
