Centennial took a major step Friday to regaining the upper hand in a nearly decade-long girls' basketball rivalry with Bishop Gorman. The Bulldogs topped the Gaels 74-60 in the Sunset Region championship at Palo Verde, securing a spot in the four-team state championship tournament at the Orleans Arena next week. Gorman now must defeat the loser of the Sunrise Region championship during a play-in game Monday for the right to join Centennial at state.
Bishop Gorman junior John Loyd had promised his classmates a dunk all season long, but had yet to deliver. So with the crowd exploding around him as he made a steal with four seconds left that would clinch his team's 70-68 Sunset Regional semifinal win over Cheyenne Thursday, he decided this was his chance.
UNLV coach Lon Kruger has extended hundreds of scholarship offers throughout his 23 seasons running collegiate basketball programs, but few have been aimed at high school freshmen. That’s a select group, of less than half a dozen, that now includes 16-year-old Bishop Gorman freshman Shabazz Muhammad.
Eldorado’s Mitrell Clark limped to the free throw line with 25 seconds left in overtime of the Sunrise Regional semifinals. Grimacing with pain, Clark knew he had to make both free throws to turn the Sun Devils’ lead into a two-possession game. Yet despite his throbbing right ankle, Clark knocked down both free throws for his 50th and 51st points of the night to ice Eldorado’s eventual 92-90 win over Desert Pines at Liberty High School on Thursday night.
Billy Wolfbrandt can't stop smiling as he goes through wrestling practice with the rest of his Faith Lutheran Jr/Sr High School teammates. It doesn't matter if he is conditioning, stretching or learning new moves, if he makes a mistake, his teammates tell him. If Wolfbrandt, an eighth grader with special needs, requires more time to learn moves, the coaches work with him. When he scores points, cheers and high fives are aplenty.
Members of the Liberty girls basketball team already had a sense of accomplishment Thursday night when they took the court against host Valley in the Sunrise Regional quarterfinals. You see, playing in the postseason game was a victory of its own for the lovable losers of seasons' past. Liberty's 60-56 come-from-behind victory would be icing on the cake.
A home court advantage did little for Palo Verde Thursday night, as Bishop Gorman advanced to the Sunset Regional Finals on a 70-37 blowout over the Panthers.
After struggling with Western in the first half of the Sunset Regional Quarterfinals on Tuesday, the Palo Verde boys basketball team sent a message that they are back on track with an 88-62 win over Durango in the semifinals on Thursday.
With two minutes left in Thursday's Sunset Regional semifinal game against Legacy, three Centennial players dove after a loose ball like the outcome of the game hinged on that one play. But the game was already well in hand, with Centennial up by more than 50 points and on its way to a 94-37 victory.
Centennial girls soccer player Julie Owens has been compared to a quarterback of a high-scoring football team by her coach. The senior midfielder surveys the field, finds holes in the defense and hits teammates with precision passes that fuel the Bulldogs offense.
Whether it was coaching, building athletic programs or hiring quality coaches, Carol Leavitt was highly involved in Southern Nevada high school sports during her 35 years with the Clark County School District. Leavitt was Centennial High's first principal, hiring the Bulldogs' initial coaching staff and helping build a strong athletic tradition at the school. She retired in June 2002. For her efforts, Leavitt will be inducted into the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association Hall of Fame during a ceremony at the Orleans Arena on Feb. 26.
Working off the assumption that more isn't always better, Nevada Cancer Institute researcher Dr. Kenneth Foon found that when treating a form of leukemia, less is more.
To some people, a Styrofoam takeout food box is litter. To Dottie Turner, it's a jewelry box. A sardine can becomes a pot for potpourri and cardboard box that once held food can become a sewing kit.
