GIRLS PLAY-IN: Gaels regain confidence, cruise into semifinals

Bishop Gorman’s girls basketball team wasn’t exactly oozing confidence entering Tuesday’s state play-in game.

The Gaels had followed up arguably their most disappointing game of the year with a Monday practice that coach Sheryl Krmpotich called “one of the worst we’ve had.”

But it didn’t take Gorman long to put all of that in its rear-view mirror.

The Gaels, who committed 25 turnovers in the first half of a 32-point loss to Centennial in the Sunset Region final on Feb. 18, didn’t commit a turnover for the first 13 minutes of the first half and were in control the whole way en route to a 61-31 win over Foothill in a state play-in game.

The Gaels (24-6) advance to the semifinals against Sunrise Region champion Liberty (26-2) at 3 p.m. Thursday at the Orleans Arena.

“Turnovers, defense and rebounding, that’s the name of the game,” Krmpotich said. “When you don’t do any of those like we did on Friday, it’s a learning experience. We came out today and picked it up. We kept it simple and that was the key.”

Amber Lane led Gorman with 19 points, but the key was defense. Gorman committed only 10 turnovers, defended extremely well — especially in the post — and held a 44-24 edge in rebounding.
All three facets worked to perfection.

Gorman was also effective at never letting Foothill (17-12) get anything going inside.

The Falcons’ two starting post players — Cheryl Harless and Taylor Collins combined for two shots in the first half and seven total in the game. Harless scored only three points.

“That was a key,” Krmpotich said. “We wanted to be very physical with their post game. Once we set the tempo, that put it in our control.”

The Gaels used an 18-2 run to finish the first quarter with a 20-5 lead, and the result was never in doubt after that.

April Rivers added 12 points, and Zhane Dikes scored 11 for Gorman, which got 10 rebounds apiece from Megan Carter and Diamond Major.

Breanna Fraser and Whitney Nash each had six points for Foothill.