Muddy River Showcase profile: CSE’s Lantz looks to give back to community in healthcare field

AUGUSTA, Ill. — An anatomy and physiology class helped give Brilyn Lantz direction.

Thoroughly invested in her science classes at Southeastern High School and wanting a profession that enabled her to give back to the community, Lantz discovered a career in radiology would achieve that.

“I love science,” Lantz said. “It was a big motivator for me. I took A&P and learned about the body and how the body works, and everything about that is something I really enjoyed.”

So after dissecting defenses as part of the highly successful Central-Southeastern girls basketball team, Lantz plans to learn how to medically break down what ails the human body through imaging and technology. She begins that quest this fall at the Blessing-Rieman College of Nursing & Health Sciences.

“I knew I wanted to go into something healthcare related and being able to give back to the community was a big thing for me,” she said.

First, she has one more basketball game to play. Lantz, a 5-foot-7 guard who averaged 10.7 points for a CSE team that reached the Class 2A super-sectionals last winter, will lace it up with the Illinois all-stars in the Muddy River Showcase, taking place at 2 p.m. June 15 at John Wood Community College’s Student Activity Center.

Q: What did you enjoy most about playing at Central-Southeastern?

A; I enjoyed the friendships and the relationships that I made along the way.

Q: Is there a favorite moment from your senior season?

A: That’s a tough one because I have a lot of favorite moments. Winning the State Farm Holiday Classic back-to-back, the regional championship, sectional championship.

Q: Is there anything behind-the-scenes that really stands out?

A: Obviously, the trip didn’t end the way we wanted it to, but our super-sectional trip was a lot of fun. It was another last moment that we got to bond with each other and just be all together.

Q: What was it like playing for CSE coach Matt Long?

A: He definitely pushes each player to be the best that they can, even if the player doesn’t think they can give anymore. He knows they can give more and pushes them to do better and play harder and just overall be better as a player.

Q: It had to be fun to be part of that winning culture, right?

A: Just being around the coaches that had tons of experience and then knowing we were going to be a fun group to play with made it great. Playing with these girls and coming up with this team that I ended with was really nice because we knew we were going to have quite a bit of success since we were younger.

Q: What are you looking forward to about the Muddy River Showcase?

A: I’m looking forward to seeing some of the past players that I was part of travel teams with and other players who I played against. Being able to play with them in this game is going to be a lot of fun. There are quite a few I was pretty excited to see again.

Tickets for the Muddy River Showcase are $10
with all seats general admission and all sales at the door.