A usual loud Centralia gym was quiet for a few moments on Wednesday night.

Centralia vs Father Tolton Photo Gallery

Senior post player Bailey Schuering was down on the floor favoring her neck for a while before eventually being stretchered off to a hospital in the Centralia girls’ 64-41 Centralia Invitational semifinal victory over Father Tolton. Head coach Megan Brinkmann said after the game Schuering was doing fine at the hospital with nothing serious, giving the Lady Panthers another reason to feel good other than earning a chance to three-peat their home tournament.

Schuering’s teammates had looks of worry on their faces when their teammate and friend went down and then looks of encouragement as she was helped out of the building. Brinkmann said it can be difficult to play basketball after a situation like that, but Centralia (5-0) reverted back to its dominant self that was in the first half.

“It’s so cool to see the girls rally around her,” Brinkmann said. “They were like, ‘We’ve got this for her.’ The first couple minutes, everybody was just stiff and were like, ‘Oh my gosh, we’ve got to play basketball again.’ Everybody loosened up a little bit, and we ended up competing really well through the whole game.”

A big reason for Centralia’s dominance early on the way to a 38-24 halftime lead was the lopsided rebounding difference. The Lady Panthers outrebounded Father Tolton (2-5) 22-5 in the first half and finished the game with a 16-18 rebound advantage.

Madilynn Hunter received a lot more minutes after Schuering went down and made an impact. She scored eight points, pulled down 12 rebounds and was 6-for-9 on free throws. The 5-foot-4 guard Madi Johnson also fought for eight rebounds.

“This was a big game for Madilynn because I know she has potential,” Brinkmann said. “For her to come out here and have six offensive and six defensive, that’s a massive game. She gave us extra possessions and got to the line. 

“Madi is just tough and gritty,” Brinkmann said. “I love watching her play. She comes out of nowhere. She’s doing everything she can to get a win for her team.”

Centralia scored eight points before Father Tolton even scored and kept receiving offensive contributions from all-state players Braylin Brunkhorst and Ryenn Gordon. Brunkhorst led the floor with 27 points while adding six rebounds and five steals, and Gordon had 15 points.

Meanwhile, Father Tolton’s double-digit 3-pointer performance on Monday against North Callaway wasn’t being repeated since the Lady Panthers were prepared. Whenever Tolton missed, Centralia was there seemingly every time for the rebound.

“They shoot a lot of 3s so we talked about long rebounds,” Brinkmann said. “When we are able to get stops and push the ball in transition, good things happen. I know they’re hard rebounds to get. We made extra efforts to get them, secure it and now we get to run offense.”

Sadie Sexauer had 17 points and four 3-pointers for Tolton against North Callaway but didn’t score until three minutes were gone in the second quarter. She finished with 11 points behind Ava Kotovky’s 12 points. 

Tolton ultimately finished with four pointers. Brinkmann said Tolton did have some looks, but Centralia made the Trailblazers uncomfortable on the perimeter.

“They’re really good shooters so they should be shooting a lot of 3s,” Brinkmann said. “That was a main focus for us. When a 3 was shot, for the most part, it was contested. Not a lot of errors on our part. We said we had to limit them and they couldn’t go on a run. I thought we did that and really contained them.”

Centralia plays Boonville (4-1) for the tournament championship at 8 p.m. Friday. Brinkmann said the teams have some similarity.

“We’re pretty comparable,” Brinkmann said. “They’ve got some pretty good guards. We have good guards. It’s going to come down to execution and details.”