Big shot brings home title No. 15 for Centennial girls

For the better part of a decade it seemed the Centennial girls basketball team was a lock for the state championship, but the outcome of tonight's title game at Cox Pavilion was very much in doubt with 30 seconds to play.

Centennial had the ball and a 57-54 lead, but the scrappy Democracy Prep defense was flying around the court, trapping and hunting for the type of game-changing turnover that had kept them in the hunt all night. Centennial worked the ball inside, then out to the perimeter before swinging it to the corner.

That’s where junior guard Sanai Branch was waiting for her moment.

Branch never hesitated, knocking down a 3-pointer with 25 seconds remaining to put Centennial up, 60-54.

A few seconds later the Bulldogs celebrated a hard-fought 61-54 victory and the program’s ninth state title in 10 years.

Branch had no doubt as she set up in the corner, ready to take the biggest shot of the season.

“I saw it coming,” Branch said, beaming. “I knew it was going in. It felt good.”

Coach Karen Weitz, who has now won 15 NIAA championships at Centennial, might have wanted Branch to work the clock a little, but ultimately had confidence in her to make the clinching triple.

“We knew they were double- and triple-teaming on the inside, so we got Sanai in the corner for a shot,” Weitz said. “We’re just happy that she knocked it down. I don’t know if it was the appropriate timing with the clock and where it was; it’s kind of like, ‘Nooo,’ and then you’re like, ‘Great shot!’”

Sophomore forward Nation Williams led Centennial with 18 points and her sister, senior forward Ayla Williams, added nine.

Nation Williams was the only key returner from last year’s Centennial squad, which lost in the state final while going for the program’s ninth straight championship. The Bulldogs watched a nine-point fourth-quarter lead disappear in that game before falling to Bishop Gorman.

Tonight, Nation Williams proved unstoppable despite Democracy Prep throwing waves of smaller, active defenders at her. She scored six points in the fourth quarter as Centennial built a seven-point lead and then held on down the stretch.

“I just really wanted to win it for my team and my sister since we’ve worked so hard this season, coming back from last year,” Nation Williams said.

Weitz said the plan was to get the ball to Nation Williams and trust her to make the right play against an overmatched but opportunistic defense.

“Nation is a winner,” Weitz said.

Democracy Prep gave Centennial all it could handle, trapping the length of the court and forcing a bushel of turnovers throughout the game. The Blue Knights trailed for the first 23 minutes but finally went ahead, 39-38, on a Keonni Lewis 3-pointer with 54 seconds left in the third quarter.  

Bray’ana Miles got a steal and threw it ahead to Lewis for a breakaway layup and a 41-39 Democracy Prep lead with less than 30 seconds to play in the quarter. Nation Williams scored on an offensive rebound at the buzzer to knot the score at 41-41 heading into the fourth.

Branch saved her only two field goals for clutch time. Her first bucket came with 2:40 remaining in the fourth quarter when she swished a 3 to extend Centennial’s lead to 55-50.

Democracy Prep freshman Ella Smith drove and made a floater to bring the Knights within 57-54 with less than a minute to play, setting the stage for Branch’s sealing shot.

Williams credited Branch and the rest of her teammates for making just enough plays to bring home the hardware.

“I was so proud of her,” Williams said. “It took everyone to win this game and that just shows how hard we worked this season.”

Centennial won its final 17 games to finish the year 23-2. Democracy Prep went 23-4 and won 17 of its last 19 games; the only two losses during that stretch came to Centennial by a combined 10 points.

Smith led Democracy Prep with 11 points while Lewis tallied 10 and Miles went for eight.

After securing her latest championship, Weitz put the spotlight on her players for coming through when it mattered most.

“I feel really happy for the girls,” Weitz said. “This team was pretty inexperienced. Nation was the only one that had big-time minutes in games like this. We talked about it a lot and kept trying to put them in big-game situations throughout the season, and I thought some people did some really big things down the stretch.”

Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.