POCATELLO — Century girls basketball doesn’t give out photos or framed jerseys on senior night. No, after the players walk to center court and hug their parents and wave to the crowd, they’re given quilts, personalized with their names and numbers.

It was an unlikely trio unfolding their unorthodox mementos and posing for a picture together Friday before the Diamondbacks’ crucial district game against Preston. A year ago, the only way Tenleigh Smith knew Ashton Adamson and Preslie Merrill was because her Blackfoot Broncos had taken back-to-back losses to Adamson and Merrill’s Century team in the state tournament.

Smith and Merrill, for example, had gone to elementary school together, but they didn’t play club ball together, don’t text each other back-and-forth like some local players at different schools do. But when Smith knew that she was going to transfer from Blackfoot to Century this summer, Adamson and Merrill were two of the first people she told.

“I just told them, ‘Hey, I’m going to school here, trying to make new friends, make connections,’” Smith said. “My sophomore and junior year, we played them in the state play-in game and had pretty close games and lost. ... We just kind of made jokes about it. They were really welcoming. We have a great bond now.”

And on Thursday, the three of them were there on the court together, sharing one of the most emotional moments of a high-school athlete’s career and then going out and leading Century to a 55-51 win over Preston to clinch the No. 1 seed in the 4A District 5 tournament.

“These three seniors are very special, just great hard-working kids, and I’m just happy that it worked out for them,” Century coach Chris Shuler said. “And they played hard, they played their butts off tonight. I’m super excited for them.”

Smith had 19 points, including the two clinching free throws with under three seconds left to finally put away a fighting Preston team. Merrill had 12, making two clutch free throws of her own in the fourth quarter. And Adamson had six, including two on a beautiful backdoor cut in the fourth with the assist coming from, who else, Smith.

In a way, it was what Shuler envisioned when he knew that he was going to be adding Smith, a multiple-time All-Area selection at Blackfoot, to his roster this year after her mother, Courtnie, took a job as an assistant coach at Idaho State.

“For Tenleigh, it’s tough for her coming to a new school and stuff like that, but they’ve made great strides and done a good job,” Shuler said.

After their senior day ceremony, Smith came out hot, hitting two 3-pointers and recording eight points in the first quarter. The second quarter was Merrill’s, with six points of her own, and Century went into halftime leading 32-20.

Preston, which was ranked second — one spot ahead of Century — in this week’s 4A media poll, held the Diamondbacks to seven points in the third quarter to set up a spectacular finish between the two District 5 powers.

“(At halftime), I just told them as bad as we played, we’re only down 12,” Preston coach Ryan Harris said. “A lot of credit to the girls to be able to come back and get back in that ballgame like we did. The girls have a ton of heart. I wouldn’t trade them for any team in the state.”

Mickayla Robertson, who had a game-high 20 for the Indians, made a 3-pointer from the left corner to give Preston its first lead at 41-39 with just under five minutes left. A Robertson and-1 with under a minute to go put the Indians ahead, but Smith pushed the ball down the court and found Kyleigh Gardea for an immediate-response 3 for Century.

Two free throws from Robertson tied it up at 51-51, but Merrill made two free throws of her own with 26.9 seconds left to give the Diamondbacks their final lead. Robertson had two good looks at potential tying jumpers on Preston’s final possession, but Smith finally ripped down the rebound on the second one as Merrill, who defended both shots, ran to the sideline jumping up and down in excitement, her ponytail flying.

Smith then hit both her free throws to end it.

“Of course, senior night, that’s a night that you want to remember,” Smith said. “Those free throws, I kind of just thought in my head, this is the nail in the coffin. ... No doubts. We practice free throws like crazy. If we go to the line, I think everyone on our team knows they’re going in.”

The win gave Century (14-6, 4-0 4A District 5) the No. 1 seed at the district tournament over Preston (14-6, 2-2). The two know they’ll likely be facing each other at least twice more in the district tournament for the right to go to state.

“We’re going to come back up here in 13 days and take another shot at it,” Harris said. “We knew coming into this, there was a good chance we were going to play Century four and potentially five times this year. We’re just going to go back to practice, go back to working hard, and get ready to come at them again.”

It hasn’t been the typical blueprint to success for Century and Shuler, who’s in his 12th season and has built a top-down program, bringing girls up and steadily integrating them into the varsity team as they get older.

With Smith and her sister, Taylor, transferring in, the Diamondbacks have instead had to build chemistry on the fly, figure out rotations and positions and who plays and how much.

But in a season as unconventional as their senior day keepsakes, the D-backs have found themselves in the same successful place.

Before they received their quilts, the public address announcer read out the favorite basketball memories for each of Century’s seniors. When it was Adamson’s turn, it wasn’t a game or a play or a championship. Instead, the loudspeaker shared how how excited she was when Smith texted her this summer to tell her they’d be teammates.

Next to Adamson, Smith covered her mouth in emotional disbelief.

“Just to have a senior night and last night playing here, it was awesome to play with these girls,” Smith said postgame, just before being interrupted by a screeching Merrill sprinting over to give her a hug. “I love them all to death, and that’s why this senior night was just awesome, to have that with them. My senior night, I’ll remember that night forever.”

Century’s regular season is over. Preston plays at Burley on Tuesday.

CENTURY 55, PRESTON 51

Preston 9 11 14 17 — 51

Century 14 18 7 16 — 55

Preston — Robertson 20, Larsen 15, Ward 7, Meek 6, Moser 3.

Century — Te. Smith 19, Merrill 12, Ta. Smith 7, Adamson 6, Gardea 5, Bull 5.