No. 1 Gorman pullway from No. 2 Democracy Prep in 5A girls battle — PHOTOS

Cold and flu season has run through some of the high school basketball teams across Southern Nevada.

It hit Bishop Gorman guard Arianna Brewer, but the freshman didn’t let that bother her in a key league game.

Brewer had 18 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Gaels, ranked No. 1 in the Review-Journal’s Class 5A rankings, to a 62-51 home win over No. 2 Democracy Prep on Wednesday. Gorman is ranked No. 10 nationally by MaxPreps.

“(Brewer) doesn’t play like a freshman. She’s seasoned. She’s very solid. For being a freshman, she is very much composed,” Gaels coach Sheryl Krmpotich said.

Gorman (15-2, 4-0 5A Southern League) used its size to outduel the Blue Knights (10-5, 2-1) in a battle of two of the top girls basketball teams in the state over the past few seasons. Brewer attacked the basket, and sophomore forward Aubrey Johnson added 10 points, nine rebounds and two blocks.

“She’s a triple threat,” Krmpotich said of Brewer. “Next time hopefully she feels better because she’s not feeling well. She battled through sickness and still played this way.”

It was the first meeting between Gorman and Democracy Prep since last year’s 5A state semifinals, where Democracy Prep won 60-49 in overtime. The Blue Knights also won the regular-season meeting 46-45.

It appeared this year’ regular-season meeting was heading toward another close game with Gorman, which led nearly the entire way, clinging to a 47-46 lead with under six minutes to play.

Then the Gaels’ size took over. They attacked the basket and went on a 15-2 run over the next four minutes to pull away.

“That was a huge part of our plan, making sure our bigs were ready, prepared, working them through it, taking (Johnson) through it and making sure she was ready,” Brewer said of the focus Gorman put on using its size advantage.

Johnson scored eight of her 10 points in the second half.

“Aubrey’s a big key. She’s long. Her wingspan is huge. She’s the paint dominating person,” Krmpotich said. “She made some really key, crucial shots and ones when it was a very pivotal part of the game that really opened the game for us.”

Gorman senior Aaliah Spaight, a Texas commit, showed why she is one of the top guards in the nation. She scored 17 points and added nine rebounds and six assists.

“(Spaight) did a fantastic job of releasing the ball to her teammates,” Krmpotich said. “She had Aubrey, (Brewer), (Addy Carr), she was trusting her teammates, and it’s hard to defend when you got so many scorers on the court that can do a lot of different things.”

Spaight did most of her damage in the first half, scoring 13 points to help Gorman hold a 35-26 lead at intermission.

Democracy Prep didn’t go away. Bray’ana Miles, a Coppin State commit, poured in 19 points and added eight steals and six rebounds. She hit a spinning layup at the start of the fourth quarter to help the Blue Knights get within 47-45 before Gorman went on its run.

“We prepared really well for this team in this game, so the work showed,” Brewer said. “(Coach told us to) stay locked in, play our game, slow down and don’t play at their pace, play at our pace.”

The win put Gorman in prime position to get the No. 1 seed in next month’s 5A state tournament and avoid a rematch against Democracy Prep or Centennial until the state title game. Gorman rolled past Centennial 91-54 on Jan. 10.

“It’s huge. That state semifinal is tough,” Krmpotich said. “We were there the last two years, playing tough teams. It’s huge. It gives you a better edge, but anybody can be beaten on any given day, so we don’t take it lightly.”

Democracy Prep was without UNLV commit Keonni Lewis, who was on crutches and wearing a brace on her left knee.

“We had more runs than they did. We had more stops than they did,” Krmpotich said. “They missed some 3s that they might make next time, so we try to make it very difficult for anything that they would try to put up. I thought the players did exactly what we wanted to on our game plan against (Democracy Prep).”

Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.