Bishop Gorman, Centennial win girls region basketball titles
Bishop Gorman girls basketball coach Kevin Nixon says he dreamed before the season of the scenario his team was presented with in the Desert Region championship game Saturday.
Packed gym. Tie game. Berth in the Southern Nevada championship game on the line.
Oh, and most important, a game-winning shot in the final seconds.
Junior guard Bentleigh Hoskins attacked from the right wing and banked in a floater with 5.4 seconds remaining to lift the Gaels to a 41-39 win over Desert Oasis at Foothill and their first region championship since 2010.
Gorman (21-7) will face Centennial (28-1) at 5 p.m. Monday at Valley in the Southern Nevada title game.
“It’s just a wonderful feeling. It’s surreal right now. We’ll enjoy it tonight and tomorrow,” Nixon said. “To get here in the (region) championship and to win the championship the way we won it in front of a packed house, it’s a dream come true.”
Desert Oasis led after the first quarter, Gorman led at halftime and the Diamondbacks took a 33-32 lead after the third quarter.
The Diamondbacks (20-5) made four consecutive free throws in the final two minutes to take a 39-36 lead, but Gaels senior guard Caira Young hit a 3-pointer from the left wing to tie the score with 31 seconds left.
The Gaels forced a turnover at halfcourt on the ensuing possession.
Hoskins, who scored a game-high 13 points, did the rest.
“That’s my shot. You can ask any of my coaches. That’s my shot. I saw it, and I took it,” she said. “It feels amazing. But now we just have to get ready for Centennial on Monday.”
Centennial rolls to Mountain title
Centennial forced 10 turnovers in the first quarter en route to a 25-point lead and 70-25 victory over Canyon Springs in the Mountain Region final at Legacy.
The Bulldogs (28-1) won their ninth straight region crown. Canyon Springs (25-4) will play in a state quarterfinal on Wednesday.
“We certainly have a bad habit of coming out slow, and they didn’t do that tonight,” said Centennial coach Karen Weitz, whose team held Canyon Springs to 1-for-9 shooting in the first quarter. “We want to be stingy at the defensive end, and we played very well in that first quarter.”
The Bulldogs raced to a 17-0 lead behind the play of Eboni Walker and Daejah Phillips and led 53-12 at halftime after forcing 21 first-half turnovers.
“We can’t worry about anything except the things we can control,” Weitz said. “We wanted to come out and make a statement early with our defensive play.”
Walker led the Bulldogs with 17 points and five rebounds. Taylor Bigby scored 12, and Phillips had eight points and 14 rebounds.
Jeanette Fine led the Pioneers with eight points.
More preps: Follow at nevadapr
Contact reporter Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on Twitter.
