Lady Panthers win 66-24, Boys win 58-34
Listen below to Megan Brinkmann discuss the victory over Macon. Fireside Guard Live! audio sponsored by Ashlawn Boarding Kennels.
Listen below to CHS Panthers Head Coach Scott Humphrey discuss the win vs Macon. Fireside Guard Live! audio sponsored by Ashlawn Boarding Kennels.
A true Centralia legend and the Macon Tigers visit Jim Enlow Court
Courtesy Fireside Guard Basketball Correspondent Richard Dickerson
The gym was full Tuesday night and among the regular Centralia fans, Coach Cheryl Burnett was in attendance. Coach Burnett, a Centralia alumnus was back on the court that bears her coach’s name. Burnett was an All-American her senior year of high school. She became the first woman to receive a full athletic scholarship to the University of Kansas, starting all four years at guard. She would later take her talents to Springfield becoming the Head Coach of the Southwest Missouri State Lady Bears. During her 15-year tenure she compiled a 319-136 record taking the Lady Bears to win 7 MVC season titles, 4 MVC Touney Championships and two trips to the NCAA Final Four. Burnett has been inducted into the Southwest Missouri State Hall of Fame, Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame and was named a Sports Legend by the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.
The Lady Panthers stepped up to the challenge of having a real women’s basketball legend watching them play. Centralia jumped out to a 14-4 lead at the end of the first period with senior Shelby Lewis accounting for 6 of those points. She would repeat with another 6 points in the second period to single handedly outscore the Lady Tigers 12-2 and Centralia going to the locker room up 34 to 6. Macon couldn’t muster any resistance to Centralia, who turned on the mercy clock to start the fourth, up 61-18 with reserves on the floor. Macon did win that quarter 6 to 5, losing the game 66 to 24. Every Centralia player scored at least 1 point during the game. Braylin Brunkhorst led all scorers with 17, Shelby Lewis 15.
The Panthers took the floor next with a much more competitive contest early on. Centralia would score first but saw Macon’s Jonathan Bray hit three buckets outside the arc to end the first with a 13-11 lead over the Panthers. After a slow start to the second Coach Scott Humphrey called a 30 second time out and provided some very heated encouragement to his troops. The boys responded by reeling off several scores led by Travis Brooks with 6 points going in at half up 26 to 19. Senior Noah Kropf nearly outscored the Tigers in the third putting up 8 points while Macon only managed 9. Centralia opened the gap by doubling the Tigers 18 to 9 and starting the fourth with a 44-27 lead. Centralia held their opponents to single digit scoring for the final three quarters and registered the double conference victories 58-34. Noah Kropf led the scoring with 14 and Travis Brooks had 13.
