Lady Bulldogs use fourth quarter to rally past Marceline

The New Franklin Lady Bulldogs basketball team waited patiently for the right time to overtake the Marceline Tigers last night in the semifinal round of the 52nd annual Keytesville Tournament.

While trailing at the end of the first-three quarters, the Lady Bulldogs had eight minutes to make up for a six-point deficit. As it turned out, New Franklin had plenty of time while outscoring Marceline 19-10 in the final period for a 52-49 victory.

As for the New Franklin boys, they had a little tougher time while trailing Marceline from the first quarter on to drop a 50-32 decision.

In other games last night in the tournament, the Keytesville girls defeated Bucklin 52-20 while the Bevier boys upended Bucklin 50-43.

Tournament action will continue tonight, with the Brunswick girls playing Keytesville in the consolation game at 5:30 p.m., followed by the Keytesville boys versus Bevier in the fifth-place game at 7 and the New Franklin boys versus Brunswick for third place at 8:30.

The Lady Bulldogs, improving to 11-5 on the season, trailed Marceline 12-10 after one, 25-16 at the half and 39-33 after three quarters of play. However in the final period, New Franklin saved its best for last while holding a nine-point difference against Marceline for the victory.

New Franklin coach Chris McGowan said the girls really struggled early in the game, particularly in the second quarter to get the ball inside and get good shots. “Our effort was also not what it needed to be early in the game,” McGowan said. “We had a really nice stretch in the third quarter and played with a little more desperation. We had some players really step up for us coming down the stretch.”

Jasmyne Boggs was one such player for the Lady Bulldogs. While knocking down a team-high 15 points, Boggs also pulled down 13 rebounds for a double-double while dishing out one assist.
Aly Hundley also finished the game with a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds along with two steals and two assists. Madi Lyons had eight points, three rebounds and two steals while Kalani Pihana added six points, two rebounds, two steals and one assist, Aislinn Himmelberg with three points, four assists, two rebounds and two steals, Taylor Warren also with three points and one steal, Amanda Cook with two points, five rebounds, one steal and one assist and Emily Hendrix with two points.

For Marceline, Kendra Gladbach had 21 points and Madison McCormick with 14.

The New Franklin boys, meanwhile, struggled offensively to start the game against Marceline and trailed 12-4 after one, 24-15 at the half and 42-22 after three quarters of play. Meanwhile, in the final period, the Bulldogs outscored Marceline 10-8 to cut the lead back to 18.

New Franklin coach Jim Schlotzhauer said the boys must learn to be patient in their offensive sets in order to score the ball more. “Defensively, we held a solid team to 50,” Schlotzhauer said. “You will never beat a team like Marceline scoring 32 points.”

Brett McGlothlin and Brennan Floray each had 15 points in the game for Marceline.

For New Franklin, who dropped to 6-10 on the season, Tyler White and Tanner White each had 14 points while Alex Holem chipped in four.