New Franklin Boys, Cairo Girls Punch Tickets to Glasgow Tournament Championship Game

The New Franklin Bulldogs, and Cairo Lady Cats will play for a Glasgow Tournament championship Saturday night after picking up victories in the semifinals Thursday night.

The Bulldogs defeated Cairo 55-51 in the boys matchup to improve to 4-0 on the year. Without their second leading scorer due to an illness, New Franklin saw three players reach double digits to eek out the close victory. The Bearcats led 39-37 early in the fourth quarter before New Franklin took control of the game with a 7-0 run.

Scott Lunte with the call of Tysen Dowell’s three, followed by the Tre Cowans two on KRES. The Bearcats would rally back to tie the game, but New Franklin’s free-throw shooting would eventually ice their first Glasgow tournament title appearance for the first time in at least 12 years. Coach Ross Dobson said New Franklin’s defensive effort was the difference.

Senior Tyler Perkins drew two charges on Cairo’s leading scorer Colby Hale, which forced the senior to the bench with foul trouble. Bearcat coach Nic Zenker said that partially disrupted the flow in the Cairo offense.

Perkins scored a team-high 17 points, Cowens scored 12, and senior Gavin Bishop also scored a dozen. New Franklin meets reigning Glasgow tournament champion Slater in Saturday’s title game. 2-1 Cairo takes on Fayette in Friday’s third place game.

In the girls semifinal, the Cairo Lady Cats defeated Fayette 57-47 to punch their ticket into a third consecutive Glasgow tournament championship game. Coach Brian Winkler leaned on seniors Riley Eberhardt and Taegan Bartolacci, who scored 18 and 16 points respectively.

The first half was an offensive struggle for both teams. Fayette led 29-28 at the half. The Lady Cats managed to create havoc on Lady Falcon senior Abbey Conrow in the third quarter. Cairo led 43-37 at the end of the third quarter, and further extended their lead in the fourth. After scoring 69 points in their season opener Tuesday, Fayette coach Valerie Foland believed the Lady Falcons got too individualized in the second half.

1-1 Fayette meets the tournament hosts in the third place game Saturday. Cairo improves to 2-1 and takes on Marceline for the second consecutive year in the Glasgow girls championship. You can hear all four coaches postgame interviews below:

New Franklin boys coach Ross Dobson: