The Centralia Panthers hosted the Clifton Clyde Eagles last night to start the new year in 2026. The match-up was also the first Twin Valley League game of the season for both teams. Centralia came out swinging on both the Girls' and Boys' games, taking early leads and running away with the game in the second half. 

Centralia over Clifton Clyde 40-29 (Girls)

The Clifton Clyde Eagles struck first in the opening quarter, taking an early 7-0 lead over the Centralia Panthers, with the all-state returning player Sevy Wurtz opening up the scoring for the Eagles. After taking the 7-0 lead, the first quarter would conclude 10-5 in favor of the Eagles. 

Centralia would then tie the game 14-14 in the second quarter and take the lead 17-16 off a Keelyn Rempe three-point shot. Centralia would go into the half leading 19-16. Centralia had an impressive five players score in the first half, including four points from Tava Gibbs, who made her debut of the season after coming off an injury, and would later continue to have an impressive night. Centralia would also have five steals at the half and continue to generate its full-court man-to-man pressure, building on it in the second half. 

The Panthers outscored the Eagles 12-9 in the third quarter and officially ran away with the game in the fourth, with Cora Thompson joining the scoring, going two-for-two at the free-throw line. Centralia would end the game with 13 total steals and would generate over 17 turnovers in the game with their pressure defense. Tava Gibbs led the scoring for Centralia with 10 points in her return, adding six rebounds and four steals. Centralia had four girls finish with an impressive eight points or more, with all also recording at least two rebounds. Clifton Clyde was limited to just three scorers, with Sevy Wurtz having led the scoring for the Eagles with 19 points and 11 rebounds.

Centralia over Clifton Clyde 63-45 (Boys)

The first quarter started well initially for the Clifton Clyde Eagles, scoring the first four points of the game. Centralia would then begin to click and get on top to end the first quarter 12-8. The Panthers would continue to lead into one of the best players in the state and league in Quinten Alderfer, as he would finish the first half with 11 points, eight of those points coming in the second quarter alone. Centralia would finish the first half with seven different players on the board while finishing as a team with an impressive 17 rebounds in just the first two quarters alone. Centralia had a 31-15 lead going into the locker room at the end of the first half. 

The Panthers' dominating stretch continued in the third quarter, outscoring the Eagles 19-12 in the third. Alderfer had another solid quarter with five points for Centralia as he continued to show off his impressive fade-away shots, but Tyler Jones also found himself with eight points in the third to impress on the board. 

The Centralia boys ended the game 63-45 with both bench squads to finish out the last couple of minutes of action on the floor. Three separate Centralia players finished with double-digit scoring, with Tyler Jones and Bronx Tallery both finishing with 11 points and Quinten Aldefer leading the charge with 18 points. Alderfer not only showed out in the scoring column but also had three rebounds, five steals, and two assists to help get his team to a two-game winning streak. 

Conclusion

The Centralia Lady Panthers snapped their two-game losing streak and have improved to 3-2 on the season and 1-0 in the TVL, while the Centralia Boys extended to two-game winning streak at now 2-3 while starting 1-0 in Twin Valley League play. Both Clifton-Clyde Eagle Boys’ and Girls’ drop to 0-1 in TVL play, but the girls drop to just 6-2 overall, while the boys now fall to 4-4. Centralia, up next will take on Marysville in a non-league game, and Clifton-Clyde will take on a TVL opponent in the Valley Heights Mustangs.