Opportunity of a Lifetime: Lohmiller Joins Girls Basketball Team at Long Island Lutheran

With a month left before the start of school, Coco Lohmiller thought she knew what her immediate future would look like.

The Sag Harbor resident was getting ready to make the transition to Pierson High School, and was poised to lead the Lady Whalers basketball team to another great season after emerging as a star for the varsity squad as an eighth-grader last year.

But then came an offer she couldn’t refuse.

In early August, Lohmiller’s AAU coach, Christina Raiti, offered her a spot on the Long Island Lutheran girls basketball team roster. The private school, located in Brookville, in Nassau County, is widely recognized as having one of the top high school girls basketball programs in the country, churning out All-Americans and Division I prospects. In addition to being the head coach of the Empire AAU team, Raiti is also the head coach of the girls team at “LuHi,” as the school is commonly referred.

Lohmiller’s talent was obvious to anyone who had been paying attention. She was the 15th leading scorer in Suffolk County last year, and emerged as a dominant force as an eighth-grader. Despite that, Lohmiller and her mother, Jennifer Doud, said they were not seriously considering any other options for her schooling in the fall.

“I wasn’t actively seeking anything,” Lohmiller said. “I would’ve 100 percent been back at Pierson.”

Raiti’s offer changed all that. Lohmiller and her mother said they were shocked when Raiti made the offer, after telling them she wanted to meet up because “she had an idea to throw by us,” Lohmiller said.

“I thought, okay, cool, she’s going to say something about going to more tournaments or something like that,” Lohmiller recounted earlier this week, during some down time before going to preseason basketball practice on the LuHi campus. “I did not think she was going to ask me to come to the school.”

Lohmiller admitted that it’s been a dream of hers to play for Raiti at Lutheran, but “I never thought it would actually happen,” she said.

The LuHi team won the New York State Federation Championship last year, and at one point during the 2022/23 season was ranked first in the nation. Raiti won Naismith Coach of the Year honors, recognized as the top high school girls basketball coach in the country, and LuHi will go into the 2023/24 season ranked in the top five in the nation again.

Of course, making the move has not been without sacrifices. The school is more than 75 miles west of Lohmiller’s home in Sag Harbor. For the first few days of school, she has taken a 6:18 train out of Bridgehampton that arrives at a nearby station roughly 10 minutes before school starts. An open gym session was set from 7 to 10 p.m. on Monday night, and Lohmiller and her mother opted to stay at a nearby hotel that night to catch some extra sleep. The commitment level will only ramp up in the late fall, when the season officially begins.

Lohmiller would’ve been an undisputed star at Pierson, starting every game, likely playing every minute, and leading the team in scoring. Finishing her career with 1,000 points would’ve been a very achievable goal had Lohmiller opted to keep playing at Pierson.

She will have a much more limited role in her first season at LuHi, but the opportunity to play and practice alongside Division I prospects, and play at open gym sessions regularly attended by Division I scouts is an opportunity that Lohmiller — who has her sights set on playing in college at the Division I level — did not want to pass up.

Doud said that her daughter felt a strong sense of guilt leaving her Pierson teammates, but ultimately knew they needed to pursue the chance to be part of the Lutheran program. Doud said she received the same advice from others, including longtime Bridgehampton boys basketball coach Carl Johnson, who has coached and counseled Lohmiller in recent years at open gym sessions.

“Carl told her it’s a no-brainer,” Doud said, adding that Johnson advised her to at least give it a shot. “He said, if you don’t like it and it’s too hard with the commute, you can always come back.”

Lohmiller said her friends at Pierson have been supportive, and she’s excited for what lies ahead. While she was surprised to get the offer, it’s perhaps not surprising given Lohmiller’s talent and her nearly lifelong commitment to sports, specifically basketball.

“Ever since I was little, I played in Youth Hoop and have been in the gym in Pierson my whole life,” Lohmiller said. “Even when I was little, it just made me so happy.”

During the earlier days, Lohmiller was coached in Youth Hoop by her mom, and over the years she’s also had help from Jeff Aubrey, a former professional basketball player who lives in Sag Harbor with his wife and children, including daughter Lyra, who plays with Lohmiller on the Empire AAU team. Basketball emerged as Lohmiller’s favorite sport, but she has been athletic from a young age, playing lacrosse, softball, field hockey and flag football over the years as well.

“It’s always been a pleasure to watch her on the court,” Doud said. “She really just has a natural affinity for it.”

Doud said that Lohmiller has adjusted well so far, and she’s hopeful that her daughter will continue to rise to meet the challenges in pursuit of her dream.

“It’s like, this is what you worked so hard for kid,” Doud said. “So now, come and get it.”