For the tenth time in 15 trips to the State tournament the lady Panthers of Centralia will be playing in the final four after picking up the first round win over the number two team in 1A-DI in the Waverly Bulldogs in the opening round of the State tournament in Emporia. Centralia picked up their 20th win of the season by topping Waverly 70-55.

The game started off with teams trading leads early and Waverly led 14-12 after the first quarter using early offensive rebounds to lead the Panthers. Centralia put together a 19-12 second quarter and took the lead going into halftime, 31-26, behind five first half three-pointers and post play. The Panthers picked up the intensity in the second half and would out-rebound the Bulldogs and continue to get big shots from all five starters. Lead grew to 10 after three quarters a 52-42 and the Panthers finished the game 23-26 from the free throw line, with all five starters notching double figures to claim the 70-55 win.

Seventy points scored ties a season best offensive output by the Panthers and the starters accounted for 68 of the points with sophomore, Cassidy Haulfer leading the way with an 18 point and 10 rebound performance. Mayda Stallbaumer and Amaris Jones each added 14 points apiece, while Stallbaumer grabbed six rebounds. Senior, Liz Hasenkamp and freshman, Katie Glatczak each chipped in 11 points to round out the scoring for the starters. Despite being out-rebounded early the Panthers finished the game out rebounding Waverly 36-35 and shot 43% from the floor in the win.

With the win the Panthers moved to 20-4 on the season and kept their season alive moving on to Friday in the 1A-DI Semifinals to face off against St. Paul at 6:30pm on 92.1 KMZA. (Other Semifinal - Centre vs. Hoxie)