4A GIRLS: Hayes, Brown rally Centennial to sixth title in 10 years
Centennial’s perceived stranglehold on the Class 4A girls basketball state title had begun to loosen a bit Friday.
Then it became a fingertip grip at best, and even that was beginning to slip.
Enter Courtney Hayes and Shannon Brown.
The two veteran players combined for 19 points, 12 rebounds and a handful of impressive defensive stands in the final 12 minutes as the Bulldogs scrambled from a five-point deficit late in the fourth quarter to defeat Liberty 71-65 in overtime in the championship game at Orleans Arena.
Centennial achieved its sixth girls title in the last 10 years.
“Courtney Hayes has been telling me that this was how it was going to end,” Centennial coach Karen Weitz said. “Usually what Courtney Hayes says is the way it goes.”
With the Bulldogs (32-1) teetering on the edge of a stunning loss in a game many observers figured they would easily win, Hayes willed Centennial back into the game after it trailed 55-50.
“I’m a senior, and I have to step up in these types of games, because they’re going to look for you for guidance,” Hayes said. “This was our moment. We don’t panic. This is what we practice for, the overtime games.”
Hayes’ steal and transition layup with 2:08 to go in regulation brought the Bulldogs to within 55-52. It triggered an 8-3 run that ended with a pair of Hayes free throws that tied the game with 30.6 seconds left and forced overtime.
Hayes was all over the floor, disrupting passes, knocking balls away and generally being a pest to Liberty (27-3).
“A lot of times we weren’t playing well together tonight,” Weitz said. “Courtney knows what I want and what I need. She just put people on her back.”
What little Hayes wasn’t doing, Brown was, collecting seven points and seven rebounds in the fourth quarter alone.
“With the shots that were being taken, you just have to get into position (to rebound), and I found it,” said Brown, a junior forward. “I knew boards would help, along with free throws.”
They acted as if they had been there before, something that was true of only one other player — fellow senior Ashley Klemz. All three were a part of Centennial’s last title-winning team in 2009 when the Bulldogs beat Bishop Gorman by a point.
“There were three people who had been in that situation. They had to be out there at the end,” Weitz said.
Liberty, though it led once in the overtime, never fully recovered from having its lead slip away.
The Patriots invested a lot of emotion in rallying from a 32-20 second-quarter deficit, and got whistled for foul after foul late in the game as the Bulldogs drove to the basket.
“We told them at halftime we had to empty the tank, and they responded well,” Liberty coach Quintin Lester said. “It really comes down to execution. A couple balls bounce here, a couple bounce there, it’s a different outcome.”
Centennial made 21 of 27 free throws after halftime, including 14 of 18 in the fourth quarter and overtime.
The Patriots were within 66-65 after Tia Chai made two free throws with 53 seconds left in overtime, but they didn’t score again, and Hayes and Klemz combined to make 5 of 6 free throws in the final 35.5 seconds.
Hayes and Jada Brown each scored 16 for Centennial. Shannon Brown finished with 13 points and 14 rebounds (10 offensive), and Tamera Williams scored 11.
Alena Evans was marvelous for Liberty, racking up 20 points and nine rebounds despite being in foul trouble the entire second half. Amanda Delgado added 16 points, Jade Washington had 12 before leaving with a severe left knee injury in the final minute of overtime, and Destiny Whitehead scored 10.
“We’re not done,” Lester said. “We’ll be back here. We gave it all we had.”
