SUNSET GIRLS: Centennial celebrates Valentine’s night

Valentine passed with flying colors, hounding the Gaels’ sharpshooter wherever she went and helping the Bulldogs gain a 76-59 win over Gorman in the Sunset Region championship game at Desert Oasis.

Centennial (29-2) advanced to the Class 4A state semifinals at 3 p.m. Thursday at UNR’s Lawlor Events Center.

With Valentine shadowing her, Rivers attempted to get open in every way she knew, but couldn’t shake loose. The Gorman junior guard was limited to six field-goal attempts, including only three 3-point attempts, one of which Valentine blocked.

“My job was just to deny (Rivers) the ball, don’t let her touch it,” Valentine said. “I thought I did a pretty good job of that.”

Rivers was held to five points, a night after she torched Palo Verde for 26, including five 3-pointers, in a semifinal victory. Her perimeter shooting usually opens up the inside for the Gaels, and when Rivers is on, she can hit shots from just about anywhere.

“I wasn’t going to allow her to do that to me,” Valentine said. “It’s April Rivers, and it’s hard to defend her, but I got it done.”

Centennial coach Karen Weitz said: “Shelby was key. She’s been my best defender ever since she was a freshman. If we need a lock-down, Shelby is the one. She spent a lot of time watching film, and she did her homework.”

Rivers never got in synch as Gorman struggled to find an outside game to complement its inside game.

“We were trying to limit her touches and force someone else to beat us,” Weitz said.

Centennial made that part hard, too.

Through 2½ quarters, the Bulldogs limited Gorman (25-4) to one offensive rebound. Centennial had 17 offensive boards by that point and had built a 51-28 lead on Jada Brown’s stick-back basket.

“We talk about offensive rebounds a lot. I think they’re key to winning games,” Weitz said. “We try to put ourselves in position to get them.”

Brown finished with 15 points and 14 rebounds to lead a balanced attack by the Bulldogs, who cycled through eight players and tiptoed around foul trouble in a physical, high-energy game in which 49 fouls were called.

Tamera Williams added 15 points and 10 rebounds as the Bulldogs held a 46-29 rebounding advantage. Breanna Workman scored 13 points, and Shannon Brown had 12 for Centennial, which expanded its 19-18 first-quarter lead to 41-26 at the half and never looked back.

Valentine did some scoring, too, adding eight points.

Zhane Dikes led Gorman with 20 points and seven rebounds. Yassemeen Sadullah came off the bench to score 10.