Basketball coaches preach that every possession matters, and that had even more meaning on Saturday for the Centralia girls.

Centralia vs Moberly District Title Game Photo Gallery

The Lady Panthers, who went into the Class 4 District 8 tournament championship game on a 13-game winning streak and as the No. 1 seed, fell short 43-41 to the No. 2 seed Moberly in Centralia. The Lady Spartans won their 13th straight game along with winning its first district title since 2011 while Centralia competed in its first district title game since 2012.

In a rematch from a 63-56 victory for Centralia (24-4) on Dec. 20 in Moberly, the largest margin was seven points, which is when Moberly was ahead 29-22 early in the fourth quarter. Centralia battled back within two points after senior Harper Sontheimer took a pass from Shelby Lewis, who pivoted around multiple times before Sontheimer forced in a 3-point play. After that, the best the Lady Panthers could do was tie at 36 as head coach Megan Brinkmann said Moberly (21-7) seized and thrived off possessions better.

“We knew what each other did, and it was going to come down to a few plays here and there,” Brinkmann said. “At the end of the day, it is all about possessions, and I thought, if I could get a possession back here or there — shots usually make, a missed box out, some misses free throws — is the difference maker in a game like this.”

Centralia hadn’t been held to scoring that low since its season-opening 63-41 loss to Class 4 No. 4 California, and Moberly had only been held below 50 points three times and once under 40 points — 40 in loss to Class 5 No. 3 Helias Catholic, 33 in loss to Illinois 2A third-place Quincy Notre Dame and 47 in loss to Class 4 No. 6 St. James. The Lady Panthers, who went in as the seventh-best team in Class 4, were forced to intentionally foul with 22.9 seconds left as they were down 41-38.

“You want to make sure you get the right player — who has fouls on your team,” Brinkmann said. “It’s always a gamble at the end of the game. You hope they miss free throws and they hit free throws. I didn’t think we got to the line as much as we should have.”

The Lady Spartans knocked down 7-of-8 free throws in the fourth quarter but also came through in the final eight minutes with a pair of 3-point plays off offensive rebounds. Asa Fanning — who led Moberly with 16 points, eight rebounds and two blocks — put one back through contact and Haley Baker did the same to respond to Bostick tying the game.

“That’s what we do extremely well, and for whatever reason, (we didn’t),” Brinkmann said. “It’s one possession at a time. Late in the fourth, the rebound and putback was the swing and we could never catch up from there. That possession didn’t lose us the game, but it was a game of possessions. We forced them into a bad shot, and we didn’t get the rebound.”

Bostick led Centralia in her final game as a Lady Panther with nine points and five rebounds, fellow senior Robinson followed with eight points and six rebounds, Raegan Anderson had eight points, six rebounds and two 3-pointers, and Braylin Brunkhorst knocked down two 3-pointers.

Moberly had a big three going with Fanning, Grace Billington and Kennedy Messer. After Fanning, Billington finished with 11 points while going 5-for-7 on free throws, nine rebounds, and three steals, and Haley Baker had 11 points, six rebounds and two steals. Messer was held to five points. 

“I thought we lost Baker a couple times, got back cut a bit,” Brinkmann said. “We did what we were supposed to defensively. To hold a player like Billington to (11 points), that’s just (senior) Harper (Sontheimer), Kae (junior Kaelyn Walters) and whoever was guarding her. They’re just so tough, and they knew the assignment.”

Down 43-38 with less than 10 seconds left, Bostick heaved a desperation shot from half court that rattled in with 5.3 seconds left. The ensuing one-and-one attempt from Moberly was off the mark but not enough time was left for a high-percentage shot and timeouts were depleted by the time Centralia grabbed the rebound.

Brinkmann said there is much “shoulda, coulda, woulda” being said like what if the Lady Panthers had 10 more seconds or what if some shots earlier in the game fell for them. What is certain, though, is the determination and leadership shown by the seniors Bostick, Robinson and Sontheimer. Robinson knocked down three of her field goals in the second half, and Sontheimer made her first field goal count on her 3-point play that cut Centralia’s deficit to two points at the time.

“Those three seniors have so much fight,” Brinkmann said. “They’re the definition of what a leader should be on a team. I knew they were never going to give up, so I always knew we had an opportunity to still stay in the game.”

Centralia has much to be proud about this season, Brinkmann said, as the team this season increased wins dramatically from a 16-11 campaign last year. The Lady Panthers fell just three wins shy of the program record 27 wins set in 1978 in what was Brinkmann’s first season on Centralia’s sidelines, including its 13 victories in final 14 games despite the loss of reigning all-conference player Morgan Ross to an ACL tear during that time. Brinkmann said it should be disappointing to lose Saturday’s game, but the future should also be exciting.

“We knew what to do at the end but again just ran out of time,” Brinkmann said. “I told them they set the bar high for young girls coming up. Hopefully, they see this and see this environment as absolutely amazing and want to play basketball. They should be prideful for the people who’ve been here and competed to get the girls where they’re at today. We talked about trusting and buying in, and they’ve done that ever since (the summer) and that’s why they’re here.”