The New Franklin Lady Bulldogs nearly avenged their week-old championship loss to Community from the New Franklin Tournament final but blew a 16-point lead on Friday to fall 45-42. Originally scheduled to take place on the Lady Bulldogs’ home court, the Central Activities Conference game was moved to Central Methodist University’s Puckett Field House in Fayette due to water main issues in New Franklin.

“I felt like we were replaying the game from last week,” said New Franklin coach Morgan Grosse.

Friday’s contest came exactly one week after the two battled to a 30-25 finish for the title of the New Franklin Tournament. Community took away the Lady Bulldogs’ second-highest scorer in that game, holding freshman Lily Chitwood to zero points. But during the teams’ most recent meeting on Friday, Chitwood couldn’t be contained. She scored 12 of her game-high 14 points in the first half, bookended by 3-point shots.

Community scored first on a bucket by Olivia Kuda a minute and a half into the game. But New Franklin responded with nine straight points, sparked by a 3-pointer from Chitwood. The Lady Bulldogs led 15-4 after eight minutes and looked as if they would run away with the game, outscoring Community 8-3 to start the second quarter.

But two things happened in the first half that changed the momentum. Firstly, New Franklin lost sophomore starter Brynn Belstle to an ankle injury. Then in the second quarter, senior scoring leader Carli Dorson found herself on the bench with two fouls. After two scoreless minutes in the middle of the period, Community made an 11-0 run over the final 2:46, turning three steals into layups late to cut the score to 23-18 at halftime.

Grosse said she kept Dorson on the bench even as Community began to heat up in the final minutes of the half because she didn’t want her senior to add a third foul before halftime. “It was a heated moment. She was a little hot. That’s why I pulled her out. We were up by enough.”

Dorson’s absence seemed to be the catalyst for the Lady Trojans to pick up their confidence and mark a diametric change in momentum.

“We came out flat, and they were rolling, hitting shots,” recalled Community coach Bob Curtis. “It showed our team’s resilience. We showed some self-control and didn’t panic, and just chipped away at it. My feeling in that last 24 minutes, we started looking like ourselves. In that first eight, we looked like it was our first time on a college floor. We were awestruck. We finally recovered, just relaxed, and played some basketball.”

The momentum stayed in Community’s favor in the third quarter, as New Franklin began to look out of sorts, missing shots and losing out on rebounds.

“I think that second quarter late really killed us,” Grosse said. “We got into foul trouble and had a starter go out. I felt like that let the momentum shift to them.”

Community quickly tied the game and took the lead on a 12-1 run that lasted nearly six minutes through the third quarter.

New Franklin responded with a pair of free throws by Dorson and a bucket underneath by Kelsi Fair to make it a two-point game entering the final period.

Community junior Brooklynn Glasgow opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer to open a five-point lead. New Franklin cut it back to one, hitting four of four free-throw shots.

After trading baskets, New Franklin finally tied the game at 41 apiece with just under a minute to play. Community retook the lead with 35 seconds left on a shot by senior Sarah Angel. The Trojans all but put the game away with a steal and layup by senior Kayla Jett with 18 seconds left to go up 45-41.

“We had some long possessions where we got some layups right at the rim, and I thought that was critical,” said Curtis. “When you’ve got under a minute, you may get the ball two or three times if you’re lucky. We had to make sure we got fouled or a layup. I thought our girls showed some real patience. We found Brooklynn [Glasgow] on the block for a layup. I really liked our self-control and our ability to get a shot.”

New Franklin came as close as three points on a free throw by sophomore KeBrea Fair with 13.3 seconds remaining. But the Lady Bulldogs mishandled the ball at mid-court following a free-throw miss by Community. The near-turnover cost New Franklin time and resulted in a long, desperate 3-point attempt that missed before the buzzer sounded.

“We had two missed opportunities letting them score,” said Grosse about the end of the game.

Chitwood’s 14 points led all scorers. New Franklin also had three players finish just short double figures. Kelsi and KeBrea Fair, and Dorson all finished with nine points. Dorson also finished 5-for-5 from the line.

For Community, Angel led seven Lady Trojan scorers with 13 points. Kuda added 11 points, followed by Glasgow and junior Alyssa Beamer with seven each.

Friday’s result is the latest in a long string of losses for New Franklin at the hands of Community. But the Lady Bulldogs may get another crack at them next week in the Sturgeon Tournament. Community is seeded first, and New Franklin is second. The two teams will likely meet again in the finals on January 28.

“We have some team goals, and winning a tournament is one of them,” Grosse said. “We have one more opportunity in the regular season. Hopefully, we do meet them again.”

New Franklin is now 11-4 overall. Two of those four losses were to Community.

New Franklin returns to action with a pair of home games this week. On Tuesday, the lady Bulldogs hosted CAC foe Pilot Grove after the Advertiser had gone to press. They will take on Jamestown on Thursday.

New Franklin will take on seventh-seeded Paris at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, January 23, in the middle school gym for the opening round of the Sturgeon Invitational. Community will face bottom-seeded South Callaway at 7 p.m. in the high school gym.