Gorman girls have their eyes on lead dogs

Nick Christensen

Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2004 | 9:17 a.m.

Saturday afternoon, Centennial High School's girls' basketball team scored a 4A-record 91 points in its win at Las Vegas.

Monday night, Bishop Gorman was up 90-30 with under 30 seconds to go at Basic, and the record-setting jumper ... was short.

So begins another season of girls' basketball in Southern Nevada, with Centennial setting the standard and Bishop Gorman coming up just ... so ... close.

In 2002, Gorman edged Centennial by two in the Sunset title game but lost the state title to the Bulldogs by 15 points. Last year, Centennial won the Sunset title by four, taking what was that region's lone state semifinal berth last season.

This year, the Gaels will have another chance to advance to the state semifinals, as the second-place teams from both Southern regions play a play-in game to determine the fourth team in the state semifinals, to be played at the Orleans Arena beginning Feb. 24.

But ask this year's Gorman players, and they insist they won't be the ones playing the Sunrise runner-up for that fourth state berth.

"Centennial's a really good team but they're beatable," junior guard Lynsey Freeman, who transferred from Palo Verde last summer, said. "And we have the best shot at beating them."

As for any other teams, forget it. Centennial and Bishop Gorman may take their lumps this season, but the teams' opening night efforts are really a taste of things to come for the rest of the Sunset Region. The only teams anywhere near that caliber this season are Mojave and Palo Verde, but it's unlikely either have enough to pull an upset of the Big Two. Either team's bench would be competitive in their respective divisions.

Bishop Gorman coach Sheryl Krmpotich said it's the dedication she and Centennial coach Karen Weitz require that sets the programs apart.

"It's a year-long program, and that does make a difference," Krmpotich said. "When you are able to have your kids for a long time, I think success breeds success and that's kind of what happened with our two programs."

Plus, Krmpotich said, the success of the other program means even more pressure for her team to get better.

"I always think that when you play the best, it brings the best out of you," Krmpotich said. "Our games with Centennial have been close. It could have gone either way. They had a lot of big shots at the end; we missed a lot of free throws. I would love to be on the other side and meet in the state final game. I think that by far we are the two most competitive teams in Nevada."

Centennial has won three girls' basketball titles since opening in 1999. In more than four decades, Bishop Gorman has yet to win its first.

Weitz was cautious in responding when asked about being on the consistently winning half of the Gorman-Centennial "rivalry."

"Everybody says, 'You and Gorman are rivals.' I don't look at it that way," Weitz said. "We look at everybody as our rival or our competition. Like in college basketball, Tennessee and UConn are rivals. They're the two best teams. Everybody says the two best teams are rivals. We play every game as if we respect each team we're playing, and we play as hard as we can to beat the opponent we're playing against."

Krmpotich said she's focusing more on her team than any others.

"Any team can be beaten on any given day. We don't just focus on any team, we focus on that game at that particular time," Krmpotich said. "I think obviously as any coach you look ahead and see who you've got, and right now I'm worried about Gorman's team. I don't worry about anybody else's team. If we take care of what we do well, wins will take care of themselves."

Gorman's boys look equally strong, and some publications have ranked the Gaels boys as in the Top 25 in the U.S. Marcus Lawrence and Kashif Watson anchor what coach Grant Rice calls "one of the best backcourts on the West Coast." Palo Verde, Mojave, Cheyenne and Durango could make waves in Sunset boys' hoops.