Bulldogs aim to defend crown

Adam Candee

Thursday, Jan. 9, 2003 | 10:02 a.m.

The drills run with utmost attention, one flowing into another without hint of a seam. First, the monotonous free throws, followed by the team wind sprints, then back to more shooting practice. A quick water break? Maybe, if they really think it is necessary.

What's so unusual about a basketball team going through its January practice paces? Well, the above activities are what defending state champion Centennial puts itself through even before the coaches emerge from the locker room and shout the first instructions.

Do the Bulldogs, Southern Nevada's top girls basketball program, pride themselves on such self-discipline?

"Oh yeah," coach Karen Weitz said with a nod and firm grin. "Oh yeah."

Yet, for all the military precision that Weitz demands from her team, Centennial players think the key to their success has next to nothing to do with any fastbreak drill or suicide sprint.

"The closeness of us is what's making us go further," junior Karissa Fernandez said.

For the team off to a 16-1 start after an undefeated 2001-02 season, it's all about the love.

"We have a good team chemistry," sophomore Whitney Price said. "If you are close off the court, you're close on the court."

Sophomores through seniors, with motivations ranging from college scholarships to simple personal pride, the Bulldogs' mixed bag comes together in harmony.

"The team, these are my only friends," Fernandez said. "These are the only people I can kick it with."

Whether that echoed fact is a fortunate coincidence or the byproduct of spending most of their non-academic time together is unknown, and really, no one appears concerned about finding that answer. Such is the good life and good chemistry created by winning your last 45 games against Nevada opponents.

"Since we play basketball all together, these are pretty much our only friends," Price said.

The girls seem genuinely comfortable with that reality, displayed in their joking attitude before practice and their consistent encouragement for one another between the lines. In addition to the three months of the school district basketball season, the same girls play together in offseason leagues and summer tournaments.

"We have such a great relationship off the court," Weitz said.

And what about on the court, where Weitz allows her players no leeway and razor-thin margin for error? Mental mistakes send players to the end line for sprints, and the coach calls out even the most subtle wrong turn of the body.

"When we step on the court to practice, it's all business. They know it and I know it," Weitz said. "When it's over, we can have fun again."

The intense discipline and focus are hallmarks of Weitz's style, and like it or not, it is a method that has produced just four losses in four years. Centennial players internalize the approach without beating themselves up.

"If (coach) wasn't talking to us, we wouldn't know our faults," Price said. "We don't take it personally. We take it as constructive criticism."

"She just wants us to become the best we can be," Fernandez said.

The end seems to be meshing with the means. Centennial picked up where it left off after last year's double-overtime win in the 4A state title game, the South's first big-school girls hoops title in 21 years. The Bulldogs won their own holiday tournament, holding off Western in overtime in the championship game, and have blown away local opponents by 50- and 60-point margins.

While Weitz believes that winning can breed winning, she said that last year's success is just that -- the past.

"Every year and every team is somewhat different," Weitz said. "The overall structure and the overall discipline remains the same."

The Bulldogs dropped their first game in more than a calendar year, losing to a Colorado team at the Phoenix Tournament of Champions. Ranked 42nd in the nation at the time, the Bulldogs did not let a loss to the 31st-ranked team in the country rattle them.

"We learned from it, we learn from the mistakes," Fernandez said. "Yeah, we get mad, but it's just something to learn from."

Don't try to sell Weitz on the adage that a loss here and there can be a good wake-up call for a top team.

"I'm not a firm believer on that," Weitz said. "It's a matter of what you learn from what happened. It's not a matter of whether you win or lose."

With a stellar sophomore class led by Price and Ashley Blake complemented by the senior leadership of Arizona-bound forward Rachael Schein, Centennial owns a compelling balance of players.

"They know that it takes all of them as a unit to achieve their individual goals," Weitz said.