When Aubrey Janes hit a 3-pointer against Centralia on Saturday, it was a 4-3 Centralia lead.

Centralia vs Montgomery County Photo Gallery

The Lady Panthers didn’t allow another Montgomery County field goal until the third quarter as they won the Class 3 District 7 championship game in Centralia 64-19. That makes two straight district titles for the state No. 3 Lady Panthers, and they surpassed the 26 wins from the Class 3 third-place team a year ago.

Centralia (27-1) had to defeat Montgomery County (15-12) for last year’s district title in what was a defensive game all-around with a 47-39 final score. This year, the defense was one-sided as Centralia took a 36-4 halftime lead. When it came to finding any faults with the team’s performance this year, head coach Megan Brinkmann was having trouble.

“Honestly, not many, and I’m pretty good at finding some things that we need to work on,” Brinkmann said. “We shared the ball, we played with energy, and instead of being a step behind, I thought we were a step forward.”

Centralia was a step ahead on defense while it was prolonging Montgomery’s scoring drought, it was a step ahead when scoring in transition off misses and 13 steals, and it was a step ahead when finding teammates scoring opportunities, turning into 27 field goals on 17 assists. Doing all of that well turns into a fun afternoon of basketball, Brinkmann said.

There was a motivation to not feel the taste of defeat again after losing out on a district title two years ago against Moberly, Brinkmann said, so Centralia kept its run going by doing little things well. This season, they still want to experience that feeling of winning.

“It’s togetherness,” Brinkmann said. “This year, the grind to keep winning is extremely tough so credit to the girls who have come in every single day and they prepare and are ready to go.”

Braylin Brunkhorst looked especially prepared by almost recording a triple-double. She led with 21 points, nine rebounds and nine assists to go with seven steals. Her fellow returning all-state player Ryenn Gordon finished with 10 points and three assists, Ealynne Bostick had nine points and Bailey Schuering added eight points.

Brunkhorst knows how difficult it is to win a district championship, let alone two in a row, so her and girls have “become one” in their goals on and off the court. That united mindset translated into dominant defense.

“These past couple of days, we have really been working on playing together and being one,” Brunkhorst said. “Playing as a team and working together because not one person is going to be able to do this on her own. We were working on moving the ball and getting everybody involved.”

Brinkmann said she was proud of Brunkhorst’s performance and was particularly impressed with her and the team’s efficiency. Brunkhorst was 8-for-10 from the floor, and Schering was 4-for-4 from the field.

“What a stat line,” Brinkmann said. “There were well-rounded and open shots. I thought Braylin really got that started.”

Brunkhorst said Centralia was stronger this year in the district title rematch with Montgomery and did a variety of aspects well to go on a 28-0 run and a 37-1 one between Montgomery County field goals. At one point, four straight Centralia field goals happened on 3-pointers set up by assists to different girls. 

“That’s the best game we’ve played in quite a while with just our ball movement, shooting, working together and playing as a team,” Brunkhorst said. “We just couldn’t have done it without anyone and our preparedness.”

The Lady Panthers would love to at least carry that defense into the next game against Class 3 District 8 champion Father Tolton (8-18). They will be hosting the sectional game at 6 p.m. Tuesday in front of the supportive community once again, so Brinkmann likes Centralia’s chances going forward if it continues that quality of play.

“When we play defense like that, we just make it hard for them whoever that is,” Brinkmann said. “I don’t think it mattered what team we played tonight. We had this mindset of ‘we’re going to do this, and whoever is in our way at this point, they’re going to get our best.’”