A strong first half propelled the New Franklin girls to a 48-35 win over Westran in the opening round of the Glasgow Tournament on Tuesday. New Franklin, seeded second, will move on to face third-seeded Glasgow in the semifinals on Thursday. Seventh-seeded Westran hopes to avoid elimination against sixth-seeded Glasgow.

“Another good win and one to start the tournament right,” said New Franklin coach Morgan Grosse.

The question on the minds of New Franklin is whether or not Carly Dorson will be on the court Thursday. The senior scoring leader left the court in the opening seconds of the third quarter on Tuesday with a rolled ankle and remained sidelined for the remainder of the game.

Dorson led the Lady Bulldogs to a 39-17 halftime lead with 16 points. She made seven of 10 shots from the line and sank a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer.

Following two lopsided quarters, Dorson’s absence was evident in the second half. New Franklin scored just four points in the third quarter, all on 4-for-8 free throw shooting, and five in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, Westran crept back with eight points in the third quarter and 10 points in the final frame. 

The Lady Bulldogs scored all but four points in the second half on 5-for-11 free-throw shooting.

“In the second half, we struggled to score but maintained a solid lead to hold onto the win,” said Grosse.

Leading the Bulldogs on the scoreboard was freshman Lilly Chitwood with 17. She picked up 12 of those points in a second quarter where she popped a 3-pointer and made three of five free throws.

Sophomore Brooklynn Brown finished with five points off the bench, followed by Emersyn Eads with three and two points each from seniors Kelsi Fair and Emma Rice.

Freshman Kharigan Fuemmeler finished with 11 points off the bench as Westran’s only double-digit scorer. Senior Dylan Perry finished with nine points. The Lady Hornets were 6-for-13 from the line.

Thursday’s tipoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. Marceline took down Glasgow 57-41 off big games for Addison Huber with 21 points and Ireland Bloss with 13. The winner will advance to the championship game at 6 p.m. on Saturday. The loser will play for third place at 3 p.m. on Saturday.