Lady Cougars Fall to Lady Panthers in State Ranked Conference Match

Canton, MO – The Highland Lady Cougars took on the Centralia Lady Panthers in a state-ranked Clarence Canon Conference match. In the Class 3 Girls State Rankings, Centralia sits at #2, and Highland sits at #3. The game also had to be moved to Canton High School due to a sewer issue at Highland.

The game was a tightly contested classic, with both teams playing at a very high level. However, Centralia would sneak away with the win in the fourth quarter, 34-30. “They played as well as you can play in a loss against a really good team.” Said coach Ashton Jaco as she discussed how her team performed, “We defended at a really high level, executed the game plan offensively. We got some looks, especially in that fourth quarter.”

The Lady Panthers scored 13 points in the first quarter, while the Cougars added 8. The second quarter would see Centralia hold on to their lead going into halftime, as the Cougars added 11, while the Panthers held them off with 9, leaving the Panthers up 22-19 at halftime. The Lady Cougars would not let up, however, as they would score 9 of their own and hold Centralia to 6 to head into the fourth quarter tied at 28-28. It would all come down to the fourth quarter, when only 8 points were scored. However, Highland would only find 2 of those points, and Centralia added 6 to get away with the 34-30 victory.

The Cougars were led in scoring by Keera Rothweiler with 9 points on the night. Meanwhile, the Centralia Panthers would be led by Braylin Brunkhorst and Ealynne Bostick, both with 9.

Despite the conference loss. The Cougars now look forward to the rest of the season and hope to build to a District title.

POINTS LEADERS

Highland: 8, 11, 9, 2

Keera Rothweiler – 9

Addy Abell – 8

Abby Lay – 7

Centralia: 13, 9, 6, 6

Braylin Brunkhorst – 9

Ealynne Bostick – 9

Blakely Sowers – 7