The second night of first-round tournament action at Glasgow was full of drama. The second-seeded Fayette girls narrowly escaped a near upset by seventh-seeded Marceline, and the third-seeded New Franklin boys were sent to the consolation side of the bracket by a scrappy sixth-seeded Cairo team.

Elsewhere, the Westran boys took care of business against a Fayette program trying to rebuild from the ground up. The Westran girls fended off a tough New Franklin team in their quest to advance to their second straight tournament championship game.

Girls

(2) Fayette 52

(7) Marceline 50

After a dominant first quarter, the second-seeded Fayette girls defeated seventh-seeded Marceline by just one basket, 52-50, to advance to their first championship semifinal at the Glasgow Tournament in two years.

It marked the first win at Fayette for the Falcons’ new coach, Rachel Harding. She came to Fayette after coaching the previous two years in nearby Slater.

“It’s always good to start the season off with a win,” Harding said. “That’s all I can be grateful for. We had a great win with energy. We had a great crowd, especially for a 4:30 game. I think we did really well, and our girls were ready to play.”

Fayette coughed up an early 20-point lead at the end of the first quarter as Marceline outscored the Lady Falcons over the next three quarters. The Falcons’ defense stole the show in the first eight minutes, creating turnovers on nearly all of Marceline’s possessions. The Lady Tigers scored just one field goal and a free throw in the first quarter of the game.

Marceline was down but not out after eight minutes. The Tigers opened the second frame with an eight-point run but still trailed by 19 at the break. Coach Jared Best made some adjustments at halftime, allowing his team to outscore Fayette 16-9 in the third quarter and 16-6 in the fourth as Fayette worked through a series of different lineups in the second half.

Coach Harding said that after two quarters of high-pressure defense, her team simply ran out of gas. “I think we just got tired. We haven’t had a game under our belt. This was our first one coming out of the gun, and we played with a lot of intensity those first two quarters. I think that just comes with time and getting used to the style of play that we have.”

Marceline outscored Fayette 10-2 over the first seven minutes of the fourth quarter to slash Fayette’s lead to just three points. The Falcons ran the clock to force the Tigers to foul. Senior Oakleigh Hill sank one of two free-throw chances to go back up by four. But Marceline senior Natalee Pennington sank a key 3-point shot to bring her team within one point of an upset with 54 seconds remaining.

Again, Fayette milked the clock, with Hill adding another free throw to make it a two-point game with 17.7 seconds left.

Fayette found its second wind coming out of a late timeout, tightening its defense and keeping Marceline from getting a clean look before the buzzer sounded.

“I thought we just needed to take care of the basketball and look for good shots,” Harding said about her team’s second half. “Defensively, I think we backed off our intensity a little bit. We weren’t really giving them the pressure that I like to see and that we saw in the first half. Otherwise, I think we weren’t getting the right shots, and we weren’t taking good shots. I think we wanted to rush a little bit like we were playing with the shot clock, looking for that first opportunity instead of waiting it out, waiting for that second or third opportunity to get something really good. I think that’s the only thing that really hurt us, and that just comes with playing.”

Hill and senior forward KeBrea Fair led all scorers with 17 points each.

Harding said she challenged Hill, last year’s scoring leader, to be a more vocal leader her senior season. “I think that just comes with being comfortable at being that leader on the floor. This is her first senior contest, and I think that just comes with being confident.”

Junior Browyn Eubanks finished with six points, followed by sophomore Kennady Vroman and freshman Eastin Hill with four each, and senior Melissa Innes and sophomore Paige Vroman each with two.

Natalee Pennington and sophomore Whitney Pennington both scored 15 points for Marceline, followed by 12 points from Ella Moseley.

The Falcons’ first-round escape advances them to the championship semifinals against former Lewis & Clark rival Westran. The third-seeded Lady Hornets took down New Franklin, the sixth seed, 45-41 in Tuesday’s opening round.

Thursday’s semifinal tips off at 7:30 p.m. The winner will play for the tournament crown at 6 p.m. on Saturday against either top-seeded Cairo, the three-time reigning champion, or a scrappy fourth-seeded Harrisburg.

Boys

(2) Westran - 71

(7) Fayette – 40

Fayette boys coach Brandon Friebe said neither he nor his players are any under illusions about where the program is right now. The Falcons have finished with single-digit wins the past three seasons. Friebe returns to the helm after coaching the Falcons from 2004 to 2008 and said that despite losing the first game of the season by a wide margin, he was happy with his team’s effort.

On Tuesday, the seventh-seeded Falcons opened the season with a 71-40 loss at the hands of second-seeded Westran in the opening round of the Glasgow Tournament.

“I don’t think anybody can question our effort. I think we played hard, and I think that as far as our defense is concerned, we did some good things in regards to getting after the ball and putting pressure on the ball. Especially as the game went on, we got a little loose with our rotations and playing help-side defense. And so, we certainly have some things to clean up. But our goal tonight was to come out and just play with a level of intensity that we know they have in them.”

Over the last five seasons, Chris Sander’s Westran Hornets have become one of the top Class 2 teams in Mid-Missouri. After beating Fayette in the previous seven straight meetings, perhaps the Hornets were slightly surprised at Fayette’s defensive intensity at the start of the game. The two teams traded missed shots, playing to a 4-4 tie over the first four and a half minutes of the opening quarter.

But Westran quickly picked up the pace, finishing the first quarter with a 10-2 run to kick off a dominant performance.

“It’s a tall task to come out and play a team like Westran first game out, not knowing where you’re at,” Friebe said. “And they’re a really good, experienced team. They’ve got a lot of returning players, and we’re, in essence, playing with a lot of sophomores and a handful of seniors sprinkled in. There are some good things to take away from the night.”

Westran was led by senior Treydence Chapman with 14 points and sophomore Cruze Haynes with 13.

Leading all scorers was Fayette’s Blake Braden with 17 points. The freshman had a breakout game for his varsity experience.

The Falcons will look to stay alive in the tournament with a consolation semifinal game against third-seeded New Franklin, which was upset by Cairo in Tuesday’s nightcap. The game tips off at 9 p.m. on Thursday. The winner will play for the consolation hardware at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Girls

(3) Westran – 45

(6) New Franklin – 41

The sixth-seeded New Franklin girls nearly scored an upset in the first round of the Glasgow Tournament on Tuesday. After tying third-seeded Westran 39-39 with 2:44 left to play, the Lady Hornets jumped ahead with a 3-pointer and stayed in front with 3-for-4 shooting from the free-throw line to ice the win, 45-41.

The loss deals a blow to second-year New Franklin coach Parker Gross, who said one of his team’s goals this year is to play in tournament trophy games this season.

After trailing throughout most of the first half, the Lady Bulldogs pulled ahead by seven in the third quarter and took a six-point lead into the final frame.

A quick six-point run by Westran over the first two minutes of the fourth quarter erased the deficit. The teams remained neck-and-neck until Westran senior Emma Wortmann sank a key 3-point basket to put the Hornets in front for good. Junior Jaelyn Miller sank three of four free-throw chances to clinch the win, as 3-point tries from New Franklin bounced off the rim.

“I felt like we had some stretches where we played okay at both ends of the floor. And then we had some stretches where we just kind of lost focus a little bit on how we were trying to do some things,” Gross said after the game. “I thought there were some times where we looked organized on offense and tried to do what we wanted and other times where we didn’t, and that hurts. We missed what felt like a lot of little ones and a lot of free throws.”

New Franklin point guard Lily Chitwood led all scorers with 16 points. She paced the team a year ago with nearly 23 points a game.

“It seemed like she got some good looks that didn’t fall, but they did a pretty good job defensively,” Gross said about his scoring leader. “On ball screens, they were trying to double her, and they kept us from getting the ball to a roller. I thought they did a pretty good job of trying to contain her. Which is obviously something that the teams are going to want to do.”

The Lady Bulldogs also had a strong performance from junior forward Skylar Shaw, who added nine points. Gross said he likes the improvement of his tall forward.

“In the last couple of games for us, she’s really shown how she’s improved quite a bit over the course of the last year. And, if we’re going to be successful this year in some big games, she’s going to be a part of that.”

Emma Wortman led Westran with 11 points, followed by Kharigan Fuemmeler with 10. The Lady Hornets advance to the championship semifinals again this year. They will face second-seeded Fayette for the chance to play for the title on Saturday.

New Franklin will play to stay alive against seventh-seeded Marceline, which gave Fayette a scare in Tuesday’s opener. The winner will play for the consolation trophy at noon on Saturday.

Boys

(3) New Franklin - 65

(6) Cairo - 66

In a battle that came down to the wire, the opening round of the Glasgow Tournament closed out with a one-point upset of reigning champion and third-seeded New Franklin by sixth-seeded Cairo, 66-65

Down by four with under a minute to go, the Bulldogs couldn’t get off a shot against the sticky Cairo defense. A final 3-point basket at the buzzer wasn’t enough to overcome the four-point deficit forced by a pair of free throws by Cairo senior Kaden Winkler with 52.9 seconds left.

The back-and-forth game was nothing short of exciting for spectators who stuck around for the nightcap. The Bearcats opened the game with a seven-point run, scoring from the free-throw line, the paint, and the 3-point arc over the first two minutes of the game. Their lead held through the high-scoring first quarter until New Franklin tied the game at 25-25, then pulled ahead when junior Caden Schlotzhauer scored 18 straight points for the Bulldogs.

Separated by two points at halftime with New Franklin ahead 39-37, the teams battled through three leaded changes in the third quarter to enter the final frame with Cairo ahead 52-51.

The Bearcats then rattled off six straight points to pull away early in the final stanza. New Franklin stayed tight, keeping the game as close as two points with 2:37 left to play before Winkler hit two crucial free throws with less than a minute left.

“Tonight’s game had to be a fun one to watch from the stands. Both teams worked their tails off and wanted to win the game. Cairo just made a couple of plays in the game that made the difference,” said New Franklin coach Jim Schlotzhauer.

Cairo junior Shaun Luecke paced the Bearcats with 22 points, followed by Winkler with 19.

“I thought we defended hard, but Cairo shot it really well from the three. We guarded fairly well. They were just hot,” Schlotzhauer said.

New Franklin had a monster night from Caden Schlotzhauer. The junior scored from all over the court, posting a so-far tournament-high 33 points.

Rylan Hundley added 11 points for the Bulldogs, followed by nine from Xander McGruder, eight from Lane Hackman, and four from Landon Shaw.

“Offensively, Cairo did a nice job of taking us out of a lot of our sets,” Coach Schlotzhauer said. “We had trouble getting our spacing and timing down on the offensive end. This led to a lot of one-on-one play in the second half that we need to avoid. We have to get better at handling pressure and running our sets. That being said, we are very inexperienced at the varsity level, so that should come with time. I was proud of our guys for battling the entire game and almost coming out on top.”

New Franklin will take on longtime area rival Fayette, the seventh seed, at 9 p.m. on Thursday for a chance to advance to the consolation game at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. On Thursday, Cairo will face second-seeded Westran in the championship semifinals at 6 p.m.