New Franklin Boys and Community Girls Win Championships at Sturgeon Tournament

The New Franklin boys and Community girls reigned as champions at the Sturgeon Tournament Saturday night. Meanwhile the Sturgeon boys, Salisbury girls, Paris boys, and New Franklin girls also collected trophy game victories.

The New Franklin Bulldogs overcame a second half deficit to defeat Salisbury 66-55 in the boys championship game and remain undefeated at 17-0. New Franklin’s defense clamped down late in the third quarter and this timely basket by Tyler Perkins helped push the Bulldogs over the top.

Colin Schowe with the call on Glory 97.3 and centralmoinfo.com. Perkins finished the game with 18 points, while Gavin Bishop led all scorers with 29 points. New Franklin coach Ross Dobson said he liked the response from his team in the second half.

Salisbury trailed 31-16 in the second quarter before coming to life from three-point range. Jackson King and Gavin Cobb combined to hit nine three-pointers. However, the New Franklin defense clamped down on the three-point line in the final quarter as Salisbury fell to 11-7 on the season. Salisbury coach Kenny Wyatt said his team is still searching for consistency on the offensive end.

The Community girls collected its first Sturgeon title since 2004 with a 37-27 victory over South Callaway. The game was a defensive struggle between the two schools. Tied at 21 towards the end of the third quarter, Lady Trojan junior Brianna Beamer went on a personal 8-0 run.

Scott Lunte with the calls. South Callaway struggled in the final frame from the free throw line. They also unofficially went through an 0 for 16 shooting drought during the fourth quarter. Lady Trojan coach Bob Curtis said the familiarity between the two teams led to a low scoring game.

The 16-1 Community Lady Trojans took a 17-13 lead at the half before the Lady Bulldogs could tie the game up at 21 a-piece. Lady Bulldog coach Darren Humphrey…

Community senior Natalie Thomas scored a game-high 13 points. 15-2 South Callaway was led by sophomores Hailee Potter and Reagan Brown’s seven points.

In a back-and-forth game, Salisbury outlasted conference rival Paris 47-43 in the girls third place game. Salisbury trailed by six in the third quarter but used their press defense to make up the deficit in the 4th quarter and improve to 15-2. Coming off a semifinal loss to Community, Salisbury coach Wade Billington gave his thoughts on his team’s bounce back effort.

Paris was led by Tori Hamilton with 20 points and Nicole Skinner with 15. Salisbury has defeated Paris in all three meetings this season as the Lady Coyotes drop to 7-8.

Sturgeon claimed the boys third place game over Westran 37-32. Michael Smith’s Bulldogs had to grind one out defensively.

Westran’s defense held Sturgeon to six first quarter points, but the Hornets failed to hit a triple in the game. Sturgeon improves to 12-6 while Westran falls to 10-6.

In the boys consolation game, Paris defeated South Callaway 63-54. The two teams were tied at 35 at the half. Coyote coach Dennis Dent said they expended their defense in the second half.

Paris senior Konnor Heitmeyer scored a game-high 21 points at the Coyotes improve to 10-5. South Callaway drops to 3-12.

In the first game of the day, New Franklin built up a ten point halftime lead on their way to a 48-40 win over New Bloomfield in the girls consolation game. The win moves New Franklin to 9-8 on the season. The Lady Bulldogs were led by Kristen Flick with 16 points. New Franklin coach Morgan Vetter said Flick played fantastic.

New Bloomfield was able to cut the deficit down to one point in the fourth quarter but would get no closer as they fell to 6-11. The Lady Wildcats were led by Mikah Edwards with 11 points. Hear full postgame interviews from all 12 coaches below:

New Franklin boys coach Ross Dobson: