The Glasgow girls rebounded from an opening-round loss to finish their own tournament with two wins and a consolation trophy. The fourth-seeded Lady Yellowjackets opened the final day of games on Saturday with an exciting back-and-forth win over third-seeded Westran, 44-40, for fifth place.

The shorthanded Lady Jackets dropped their opening game to fifth-seeded Marceline on Tuesday, 51-40, without their leading scorer. Halle Fuemmeler sat out with an ankle injury, but returned to the court on Thursday as the Lady Jackets shut out eighth-seeded Slater in the first quarter on the way to a lopsided 67-14 win.

Glasgow coach Molly Monnig said pulling through with two wins among such a stacked bracket and finishing with a noon Saturday game required a different level of toughness.

“We talked about this game being a tough game to play. It’s not the game you want to be in. It’s noon on a Saturday,” she said. “I thought we really battled. We got behind to start, and behind three different times, and kept battling back and really finished well.”

Glasgow also had a day off between games, while Westran played the early game on Friday, beating seventh-seeded Fayette 52-32 to advance to the consolation final. Normally, both teams would have had a day of rest, but a snowstorm on Monday postponed the first two rounds by a day, forcing games to be played on Friday, which is usually a day off for all teams before the finals.

“It has to be a little bit beneficial, especially in a tournament week,” Monnig said.

Saturday’s consolation final was an exciting start to a full day of trophy games. Glasgow scored the first points of the day with a bucket by senior Karsyn Massie. Westran answered with a nine-point run to go up by seven midway through the opening period.

Monnig called a timeout, and her team responded. Fuemmeler sank back-to-back threes. Aly Prentzler then made a free throw to tie the game.

“They were ready, and we weren’t. That’s how it felt,” Monnig said about the early timeout. “We weren’t stepping the ball defensively. We were playing behind. We weren’t getting back in transition. Those are things that were key for us. I called a timeout and reset them. They were able to execute from there.”

Westran pulled ahead by two points after one quarter, and the two teams remained separated by two by halftime. The margin stayed at two as Glasgow and Westran matched one another point for point through the second and third periods.

After three and a half tight quarters, the Lady Hornets took a six-point lead midway through the fourth on a 3-pointer by Kharigan Fuemmeler to go up 38-32.

Less than half a minute later, Glasgow answered with a three from Halle Fuemmeler to kick start a 12-2 run over the final 3:49 to take a final lead and clinch the victory.

Westran was able to stop the clock with two timeouts in the final 16 seconds. But a pair of missed free throws by the Hornets with 5.1 seconds left allowed Glasgow to hold on for the win.

When Westran missed the first of those free throws, Monnig said she was able to breathe again. “Missing that took a lot of pressure off of us,” she said.

Monnig credits her defense for staying out of foul trouble, which allowed the Jackets to stop the clock by fouling, but without sending the Hornets to the line.

“We were in situations we have not been in this year, where we had fouls to waste in the last 17 seconds. We were able to foul, slow things down, and take away some possessions.”

Halle Fuemmeler led all scorers with 20 points on the night, including four 3-pointers and a 6-for-8 performance from the line. All on a bad ankle that she tweaked again late in the game.

“She’s a gamer. She likes to compete,” Monnig said. “Playing through that last foul, where she landed hard, and then knocking down those free throws says a lot about who she is as a player. When she’s on the floor, we are way more confident.”

Massie added 14 points and sank four of six free-throw chances against Westran’s bruising inside game. “I thought Carsyn played hard. She played physical and had to play a lot of minutes. She really battled and hit some big buckets when we needed her to and got some big boards,” said Monnig.

Kara Graves added six points, all from the arc. Monnig said her point guard’s two 3-point baskets were huge momentum shifts for the Jackets, and credited her defense.

Prentzler finished with three points, and senior Brooklynn Morris added two.

“Aly Prentzler really battled. She was probably the most physical player on the floor today. She really got after it,” Monnig said. “Brooklynn Morris had some big free throws. She’s always in the right place and doing the things that we need done.”

Kherigan Fuemmeler led seven Westran scorers with 11 points on the night. Kate Holman and Kalynn Carroll each posted eight points.

The two teams are set to face off again on Thursday at Westran. Glasgow, now 4-1 overall, then returns home to face Cairo on Friday.

“We like that competitive schedule. It sets you up for February,” Monnig said.