Thursday’s semifinal games at the Glasgow Basketball Tournament were full of action. Contests ran the full gamut, from one-point upsets to lopsided blowouts. Finalists have been decided, and some teams were sent home. Saturday’s trophy games should be highly competitive at every level.

The two-time defending champion Cairo girls advanced to the title game after defeating Harrisburg on Wednesday. The top-seeded Lady Bearcats will face a surprising Westran team. The Lady Hornets entered the tournament as the seventh seed and upset second-seeded Marceline 55-37 in the opening round, and edged out another upset team, sixth-seeded New Franklin, 49-48 for a chance to play for the title.

New Franklin will now take on a tenacious Harrisburg girls’ team that fell to Cairo in the semis. Tipoff is scheduled for 3 p.m.

The second-seeded Harrisburg boys took down Slater in an exhaustive, high-intensity game to reach the championship game in their first year back in the tournament after a nine-year hiatus. The Bulldogs will face top-seeded New Franklin at 7:30 p.m. Friday in what is sure to be a slugfest from buzzer to buzzer.

The Slater boys, led by the unbelievably athletic Brandon Terrill, Jr., will take on the talented and experienced fourth-seeded Westran Hornets for third place at 4:30 p.m. Saturday.

The consolation side of the bracket will be just as competitive as the first two rounds, setting up evenly-matched contests for the fifth-place trophy. The third-seeded Fayette girls will face the fifth-seeded home team at noon on Saturday. Fayette was upset by New Franklin in the opener, 54-49, but finished off second-seeded Marceline 57-35 in the semis to advance to the consolation game. Glasgow struggled against a rock-solid Harrisburg team, falling 43-61 in the opener. The Lady Jackets handily took down Slater in the semifinals 67-39.

Blowouts were the theme in boys’ consolation action on Wednesday. Fifth-seeded Cairo crushed Marceline, the bottom seed, 76-25 to advance to the consolation final. Glasgow dominated Fayette, 101-35, for the chance to play for a trophy in their own tournament. It marked the second triple-digit game of the tournament after New Franklin banked 100 points against Marceline in the opener.

Girls

(3) Fayette 57

(2) Marceline 35

Top Scorers

Fayette

Browyn Eubanks 19

Addy Gibbs 12

Marceline

Avery Gillman 10

The Fayette girls entered Thursday’s game with a chip on their shoulders. After suffering a five-point upset to neighboring rival New Franklin, they found themselves in the exact same situation as that of a year ago, facing Marceline in the consolation semifinal.

Last year, Fayette bowed out after blowing a lead. This year, Fayette pulled ahead and stayed ahead, winning 57-35.

Fayette led by as many as 21 points in the second quarter but allowed Marceline to chip away at the deficit. Junior Oakleigh Hill popped a 3-pointer with 30 seconds to go to put the Lady Falcons back in front by double digits at halftime, 31-19.

“A year ago, we were a very scrappy team looking for an identity. This year, we are looking to gel and become more consistent,” said Fayette coach Daryl Betts. “We are super deep and can play several styles, but we have yet to perform how we are capable of. We will continue to grow and make progress. I was really proud of the poise today as we let Marceline go on a run but were able to grow the lead after we rested at halftime.”

Fayette maintained its lead by double-digits throughout the second half to finish on top, 57-35. The win now pits the Lady Falcons against the hometown team in a shootout for the consolation trophy. Glasgow, seeded fifth, knocked out Slater 67-39 in Wednesday’s semifinal.

“We have to be ready for Glasgow. They play a tough zone defense and have several weapons,” Betts said. “It won’t be an easy test at all, but just like we talked about today, it will be fun. We have to just go out and have fun and work together.”

Boys

(2) Harrisburg 80

(6) Slater 39

Top Scorers

Harrisburg

Trace Combs 29

Hayven Samuels 19

Slater

Brandon Terrill, Jr. 14

The Harrisburg boys are one of the most physically relentless teams in Mid-Missouri, and their style of play was on full display Wednesday night. While the Bulldogs couldn’t fully contain the wildly athletic Brandon Terrill, Jr., they were able to play with an intensity that the Wildcats couldn’t match.

“He’s probably the best athlete in the whole tournament,” said Harrisburg coach Kyle Fisher. “Obviously, you’re not going to slow him down completely, but you want to limit him as much as possible.”

Harrisburg led 19-15 after a tight first quarter. Fisher said his team was able to control the game more in the second quarter. The Bulldogs held Slater to just one field goal and two free throws throughout the period until Terrill sank a long 3-point buzzer-beater.

“We knew it was going to be an up-and-down game. We like to play fast, and they like to play fast,” Fisher said. “The first quarter was kind of at their pace, their style. The second quarter, I thought we got it more controlled.”

Harrisburg junior Trace Combs opened the second half with a 3-pointer on the opening possession to set the tone for the rest of the game. Harrisburg continued to pull away in the final two quarters to finish with an 80 to 39 win and propel them into the tournament finals.

“We haven’t [played] each other in a long time,” Fisher said about facing top-seeded New Franklin in Saturday’s championship. “We’re up to the challenge. They’re not going to give us anything. We have to make sure we’re ready for a four-quarter war.”

Girls

(6) New Franklin 48

(7) Westran 49

Top Scorers

New Franklin

Lily Chitwood 25

Westran

Kharigan Fuemmeler 15

Thursday’s semifinal girls’ matchup was a battle of the spoilers. Both teams scored opening-round upsets to advance to the championship side of the bracket. The game turned out to be another upset, albeit of a less egregious sort. After a back-and-forth game, seventh-seeded Westran came away with a one-point win over sixth-seeded New Franklin.

“The loss tonight is one our young group will look to learn from,” said New Franklin coach Parker Gross.

The two scrappy teams fought to a 6-6 tie after one quarter and remained neck and neck throughout most of the second. Westran knocked down a 3-pointer and scored on a layup in the final 64 seconds of the second quarter to take a 19-15 lead into the break.

“I thought that we found ways to battle back from a pretty flat start and through foul trouble that we found ourselves in throughout the game,” Gross said.

Westran came out of halftime on fire, pushing their lead to 31-19 on a 12-4 run. It appeared that the Lady Hornets would run away with the game, but New Franklin found ways to score from 3-point distance.

“Lily led us in scoring with 25 points and was a spark for us in the second half when we found ourselves down 12 at one point in the third quarter,” Gross said.

Tied at 38 apiece less than midway into the fourth quarter, New Franklin sophomore Lilly Chitwood scored on a series of transition layups to put the Lady Bulldogs in front by six. New Franklin had turned the tables on Westran. But the Lady Hornets still had a few tricks up their sleeves and pulled within one point with 1:23 left to play. A minute later, they took a one-point lead.

New Franklin had a final chance to score coming out of a time-out with about nine ticks left on the clock, but the shots failed to fall.

Westran now faces the daunting task of knocking Cairo from its throne. Can the Lady Hornets continue their streak of upsets against the two-time defending champs? The only way to find out is to play the game. The championship tips off at 6 p.m. on Saturday.

Boys

(3) Glasgow 101

(7) Fayette 35

Top Scorers

Glasgow

Jordan Fuemmeler 33

Jackson Meyer 16

Fayette

Kaleb Friebe 16

After suffering a first-round upset to sixth-seeded Slater in the opening round, the third-seeded home team returned to Larry Littrell Court in fine form, defeating Fayette by 66 points—the second widest margin of the tournament—to send the Falcons packing.

“We played better than Tuesday night but certainly competed against a Glasgow team on a mission from their opening-round loss to Slater Tuesday,” said Fayette coach Jon Bishop. “We have a lot of our season left to work on getting better and improving. We have some good players that want to improve and work hard in practice. I am proud that despite some very tough losses, we continue to play hard.”

Glasgow jumped out to an 11-3 lead after three minutes and never looked back. By halftime, the Yellowjackets held a 60-24 lead.

Senior Jordan Fuemmeler, one of the premier Class 2 basketball players in the state, scored a game-high 33 points. He was complimented by Jackson Meyer with 16 points.

“We got out in transition well, and we defended well,” said Glasgow coach Mick Cropp. “It’s the way we like to play, so hopefully this is a springboard into Saturday.”