The final Friday of the 2020 portion high school basketball saw a big rivalry in the Twin Valley League as Centralia hosted Hanover and the two teams played to a split with the Wildcat girls winning the opening game 46-38 while the Panther boys won the night cap 68-56.

GIRLS: Hanover 46, Centralia 38

Hanover opened the game with a 10-0 start forcing three quick Centralia turnovers and Avery Behrends scoring four points to lead 14-5 after one.

The Wildcat lead got up to as many as 11 in the second quarter, but Centralia battled back and forced four turnovers to pull with a 21-16 score at the half.

Centralia continued to pull even closer in the third quarter forcing six Hanover turnovers while Abbie Flentie notched five points to pull the Panthers within three going into the fourth quarter.

In the fourth though Hanover made the big plays when they needed to, led by sophomore Massey Holle who had three offensive rebounds on missed free throws and scored six fourth quarter points to ice the game.

Holle finished with 11 points and was named our Player to Bank on sponsored by the Farmers State Bank of Onaga while Behrends and Ceegan Atkins each added 13.

Centralia hit seven 3-pointers in the game but failed to have a player reach double-figures as Avery Mars had nine.

Boys: Centralia 68, Hanover 56

Despite turning the basketball over 24 times, Centralia made big shot after big shot and big plays down the stretch to take down Hanover 68-56 for a key Twin Valley League win.

The Panthers jumped on top early with junior Raef Osterhaus scoring eight points in the first quarter giving Centralia a 14-12 lead after one.

Osterhaus continued his hot start in the second with seven more points including a monstrous two-hand slam that sparked the Panthers to a 31-24 lead at the half along with a pair of Colton Weyer 3-pointers.

The third quarter is where Centralia really took control as sophomore Trenton Talley scored five of his seven points in the third quarter while Osterhaus added six more along with Weyer, Marshall Tanking and Ian Haverkamp each hitting triples to push the Panther lead to 13 going into the fourth.

In the fourth the Panthers put the game away from the free throw line hitting 7-of-12 from the stripe to ice the game away.

Centralia shot 15-of-20 from the line in the game and were led by Osterhaus who had a game-high 26 points while Presley Bowers added 12. Marshall Tanking was also great defensively as he took six chargers in the game.

Hanover had three guys in double figures led by Emmitt Jueneman who had 17 points while Keagan Dimler added 16 and Blake Hynek 15.

The Wildcats were in foul trouble all night long thanks to two technical fouls as all five starters fouled out of the game.

Both teams now take the holiday break before getting back in action on January 8.