It was double the delight for the Centralia Panthers on Saturday night as the Panther girls and boys earned trips to the State tournament in Class 1A-Division I by claiming Sub-State Championship titles. The lady Panthers topped Frankfort 55-33, while Centralia boys earned a tough 42-38 win over Doniphan West. 

Looking to return to the State tournament the lady Panthers were on the prowl early against Frankfort as the Wildcats were looking to play spoiler. The game was 3-2 early but Centralia went on a 10-0 run to lead 13-2 and the Panthers never looked back, leading 15-7 after one quarter and 29-13 at halftime behind a 14-6 second frame. Centralia added to their lead in the second half using their advantage in the paint with Cassidy Haufler and Mayda Stallbaumer snatching up multiple offensive rebounds and filling the scoresheet, helping guide Centralia to the 55-33 win. Frankfort was able to connect on only three three-pointers of the 20-plus they shot in the contest. 

The loss ends Frankfort's season at 13-11 as freshman, Emilee Ebert paced Frankfort with 18 points on the night. 

Centralia with the win improved to 22-1 on the year and has won 20 in a row claiming the Sub-State championship with the trio of Stallbaumer, Katie Glatczak and Haufler accounting for all but five of the team’s points on the night. Stallbaumer posted 18 points, 16 coming in the second half and earned Community National Bank "Player to Bank On" honors on KMZA, while Glatczak also notched 18 points and Haufler contributed 14 points. The Panthers return to 1A-DI State tournament after finishing as the State runner-up last year. 

In the boys contest it was a rematch of last year’s Sub-State championship a game in which Doniphan West won and went on to finish State runner-up but this time around it was a tighter ballgame than last year and Centralia with some late free throws iced the game to grab the 42-38 win. The Panthers doubled up Doniphan West at 12-6 late in the first but a Austin Taylor bucket made it 12-8 after one quarter. That lead was only one-point by halftime as Centralia led 26-25 but the Mustangs won the third quarter 8-5 and took a 33-31 lead into the fourth quarter. The Panthers finished the game with 11-5 fourth and late free throws to keep Doniphan West at bay late and secure the win. 

Doniphan West with the loss wraps up the season 18-5 and was led by Cooper Leach who scored 13 points, while Taylor had 11 points and Devin Taylor added 10 points. 

With the win Centralia improves to 16-7 on the year and heads to the 1A-DI State tournament for the first time since 2013 when they placed third. Braden Deters led the Panthers with 16 points in the win, while John Johnson posted 12 points. 

The Panthers with the Sub-State championship wins head to Dodge City next week for the 1A-DI State tournament where the boys will play Wednesday, March 9th and the girls Thursday, March 10th for their opening round games.