The Centralia girls took a few moments to watch the end of Moberly’s 54-52 victory against Boonville on Wednesday night. 

Centralia Invitational Girls Day 2 Photo Gallery

That Centralia Invitational game was right before the Lady Panthers’ 59-45 semifinal victory against Salisbury in a matchup between teams that were the runner-up in their respective districts from a season ago. Centralia stayed at least seven points ahead after the first quarter to face Moberly at 8 p.m. Friday in a rematch of last season’s district championship.

Head coach Megan Brinkmann said there is some “personal” motivation in wanting to face Moberly again while Centralia (4-1) defends its tournament title, but it was important not to take Salisbury’s offense too lightly. Julia Sloan led Salisbury (3-1) with 24 points, beating Centralia with moves in the post, but the next highest Salisbury scorer was Tori Rickett’s with nine points — seven in the fourth quarter.

“I knew we had to be really good defensively tonight,” Brinkmann said. “We needed to see a couple players that can do a couple different things to challenge us a little bit. (Sloan) did a great job as we were trying to take away her left shoulder and we knew she’d go right, and she made a couple really good moves left.”

Centralia had a 12-11 lead after the first quarter, with some early free throws giving them the edge. The Lady Panthers took control after holding Salisbury to four points in the second quarter for a 23-15 halftime lead. 

“When we rebound and play without fouling, we’re really good,” Brinkmann said. “We got stops, were boxing out and were running to the rim instead of putting a butt on somebody.”

Brinkmann said Centralia became “out of sync” after Salisbury switched to a zone defense after the first couple of possessions of the game. Moving the ball to find the best possible shot helped Centralia better attack the zone but were at its best when it was able to grab rebounds and quickly push the ball down the floor.

Morgan Ross led Centralia with 18 points, Braylin Brunkhorst scored 16 points to go with nine rebounds, three steals and two blocks, Raegan Anderson had 11 points and three 3-pointers, and Shelby Lewis finished with 13 rebounds.

During the fourth quarter, Brinkmann said Ross showed why she is a senior captain because she steadily made plays as the fouls were handed out in bunches during the eight minutes. Salisbury never stopped fighting when it cut its deficit to seven points multiple times, like when Ricketts hit a 3-pointer to make it 37-30 only for Ross to respond at the other end with a 3-point play. She hit 6-of-8 free throws in the fourth quarter to keep Salisbury at bay while Brunkhorst added four free throws in the quarter and senior Katie Carrico was 4-for-4 from the line in the game.

“At times, we fouled way more than I’d like,” Brinkmann said. “Morgan is so gritty right now — offensive rebounds, loose balls and and-ones. She knows what it’s like now to not get an opportunity, coming back from her ACL tear. She’s strong at 6-foot tall, and she is a two-tiered player. I need her to get to the line. She was 6-of-8, and I think she can shoot better than that.”

Moberly goes into Friday night a perfect 4-0 and with several of its key players from last season back in the lineup.

“We were hoping this would happen — a rematch from last year,” Brinkmann said. “They are not in our district anymore so whatever happens, happens, but I think it’s a little personal so we’re excited.”