The Centralia girls were much colder this time around against Moberly. After defeating the Class 4 No. 10 Lady Spartans 62-57 earlier in this season, the Lady Panthers lost 69-46 to Moberly in a 9 p.m. contest Saturday in the Sophie Cunningham Classic at Southwell Complex at Columbia College.
Moberly shot 44.8 percent from the field compared to Centralia's 31.5 percent, and Grace Billington and Asa Fanning were named Moberly's co-MVPs after combining for 39 points. Billington became the Moberly girls program's all-time leading scorer with 18 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, and Fanning had a game-high 21 points to be one of three other Lady Spartans to score in double figures.
Centralia had Ryenn Gordon be its MVP after finishing with 10 points and six rebounds, Braylin Brunkhorst had 12 points and two steals, Katie Carrico added eight points and two 3-pointers off the bench, Ross had seven points, and Shelby Lewis pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds. Still, the Lady Panthers went more than nine minutes without scoring from the early second quarter to the late third quarter, turning a 27-20 deficit to 42-20.
“They made us take longer possessions,” head coach Megan Brinkmann said. “I’ll take a longer possession and find the best shot possible. For whatever reason, we started rushing in our head a little bit. We get some reversals, we’ll get what we need. Instead of chipping away and taking it one possession at a time, we started rushing things.”
Look for the full story, along with head coach Megan Brinkmann's thoughts on the significance of events like the Sophie Cunningham Classic, in the Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024, edition of the Mexico Ledger.
