Centralia girls get leg up on Palmyra one night Anderson makes history

After one state-ranked loss, the Centralia girls closed with their week with a significant state-ranked victory.

The Class 3 No. 8 Lady Panthers (according to the latest state polls this week) started last week on Monday with a 49-36 home loss to Class 4 No. 3 Chillicothe but closed with a 66-51 victory at home on Saturday over Clarence Cannon Conference foe and Class 3 No. 7 Palmyra (17-5, 4-1 CCC). It was Centralia’s third conference win of the week to stay undefeated at 6-0 with a 19-4 overall record, including a 49-29 Friday home win over Monroe City that saw senior Raegan Anderson break the program single-season record for 3-pointers with 66 at the end of the game.

Braylin Brunkhorst led Centralia against Palmyra with 21 points, Anderson followed with 16 points, Ryenn Gordon had 14 points and seven assists, and Shelby Lewis finished with 11 points and eight rebounds.

Centralia has the No. 2 seed in the Class 3 District 7 tournament to be played at North Callaway in Kingdom City next week. The Lady Panthers face the winner of Father Tolton and South Callaway at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 21.

Centralia boys winning streak ends in 42-40 OT loss to state-ranked Palmyra

It took a lot for the Centralia boys’ five-game winning streak to end on Saturday. 

The Panthers lost 42-40 in overtime at home to Class 3 No. 5 Palmyra, who moved to 22-1 overall and 6-0 in the Clarence Cannon Conference. Centralia goes to 14-9 and 4-2 in conference, despite only trailing by two of three points at the end of some quarters. 

Noah Kropf led Centralia in two consecutive games, by finishing with 14 points against Palmyra and 15 points in the Panthers’ 49-44 Friday home win against Monroe City. Logan Rosenfelder followed Kropf against Palmyra with 11 points, and Anthony Ford had seven points and 11 rebounds. Ford finished with 12 points and six rebounds in the Monroe City victory, and Cullen Bennett had a double-double of 10 points and 12 rebounds that same night.