In the situation you described, you actually had a third option (ball & runner arrive at the same time), incidental contact, runner out. But, since that is HTBT, and you were there (not I), then in your situation, the ball arrived after the runner was impeded, hence obstruction was correct.
In a "contact" situation, "about to receive" and "has possession" are almost the same thing. Here is an exception (this situation was posted in a thread a few days ago...)
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R1, on first, gets the steal sign and takes off. The throw comes, and the shortstop sets up in the base path on 2 knees, almost bent over like you would in a leap frog game, and fields it on one hop, but is bobbling the ball. As she is bobbling it, R1 arrives, but has nowhere to run, because the fielder is in the path. Instead of jumping over her, or running around her, R1 slows down, the fielder gets control of the ball, and tags her.
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The fielder is "about to receive" (but fumbling, so does not have possession). Therefore, she is legally impeding the runner, therefore, no obstruction.
However, don't forget that contact is not necessary to impede a runner. If the throw is on the way, and the fielder is blocking the base path of the runner, and the runner slows down or deviates from her path, the call will depend on where the ball was. Between the fielder and the runner - nothing. Otherwise, obstruction.