Despite a slow second quarter, the fourth-seeded New Franklin girls cruised to a 51-26 win over seventh-seeded Pilot Grove in the opening round of the New Franklin Tournament on Wednesday. The Lady Bulldogs now advance to the championship semifinals against six-time tournament defending champions Community at 7:30 p.m. in the new gym tonight.

The third-seeded Lady Trojans escaped with a 36-27 win over sixth-seeded Sturgeon in Wednesday’s opener.

New Franklin shook off the cobwebs after a nearly three-week gap since their last game. Junior Lydia Burnett set the tone early, sinking back-to-back 3-pointers over a span of 11 seconds to give the Lady Bulldogs an early 6-0 lead. New Franklin went on to win the first quarter 19-7.

That lead helped the Bulldogs stay in front after they scored just four points in the second quarter. Pilot Grove inched back with nine points to cut the lead to 23-26 at the break.

“It definitely looked and felt like the first came back from a long break. We shot the ball poorly and settled a little bit at the offensive end of the floor,” said New Franklin coach Parker Gross. “We missed some shots and settled for some shots. And we gave up a few shots that we probably should not have and didn’t in the first quarter.”

New Franklin found its groove in the second half, holding Pilot Grove to eight points in the third quarter and two points in the fourth, meanwhile posting double-digit totals in each period to pull away for the 25-point win.

“I thought we came out on the third quarter did a lot better,” Gross said. “We just executed some things that we needed to execute.”

New Franklin junior Lily Chitwood paced her team with a game-high 20 points. She sank three shots from the arc, two in the first quarter and one in the third. Senior Brynn Belstle added 10 points, all in the second half. Burnett finished with nine points, all scored from the 3-point line.

The Bulldogs will face reigning tournament champion Community at 7:30 p.m. in the new gym. The winner advances to the title game at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday. “It should be a good matchup,” Gross said. “We played them three times last year in pretty tight ball games. It’s a conference opponent. They’ve got a couple of really good players. We have to come out ready to play from the tip.”

New Franklin hopes to hoist the first-place trophy for the first time since winning back-to-back championships in 2016 and 2017.