Centennial tops Boise in girls basketball 5A District Three final, remains undefeated

Centennial tops Boise in girls basketball 5A District Three final, remains undefeated
BY RACHEL ROBERTS - rroberts@idahostatesman.com © 2011 Idaho Statesman
Published: 02/12/11

Before Centennial junior Sierrna Short walked back onto the court, senior Sofia Huerta gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

And just as Patriots girls basketball coach Emery Roy had drawn out on the dry-erase board moments before, sophomore Morgan Weigel inbounded the ball to teammate Sherise Porchia, then Short came off a screen and hit the game-winning 3-pointer.

Short’s 3 in combination with a pair of late free throws by junior Emily Stickney sealed Centennial’s third consecutive 5A District Three championship with a 61-58 overtime victory against Boise (19-4) on Friday night at Eagle High.

“Sierrna is one of the most committed players on our team,” said Huerta, who scored a team-leading 17 points before fouling out with 57.4 seconds left in overtime. “She goes out of her way every day after practice to the Y to shoot. … She is so determined to do well, but she doesn’t just do it for herself, she does it for her team.”

Friday’s title was the eighth district championship in school history for the Patriots (23-0), who have had Roy at the helm since the school opened in 1987 and have won five state championships, the most recent of which came in 2006.

The ceaselessly composed Roy barely cracked a smile while speaking to the crowd after the game, but smile or no, Roy couldn’t help but be pleased with the fight his players showed against the Braves.

“It is great to have a tough game like this for them,” Roy said. “They wanted it pretty bad, so this is big for them.”

Centennial will be District Three’s No. 1 seed at next week’s state tournament. The Patriots open against Meridian (10-14) at 3 p.m. Thursday at the Idaho Center in Nampa.

Boise will be the No. 2 seed and takes on District One-Two runner-up Coeur d’Alene (18-5), which has won the past three state titles.

For the Braves, who also lost to the Patriots in last year’s district championship, Friday’s game was hard to stomach.

Having trailed by as many as 13 points, the Braves roared back to life in the fourth quarter. Senior post Jackie Luna-Castro scored 12 of her game-high 27 points in the fourth, including a putback with 2 seconds remaining to force overtime. Luna-Castro also grabbed 17 rebounds.

“They definitely were disappointed. It’s tough to battle that hard and not get the result,” Boise coach Kim Brydges said. “But I told them I was just so proud of them. They could have given up at multiple different points when Centennial went on some big runs. … If they can bring that effort next week at state, that will be fantastic.”

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