Three points were all that separated the second-seeded New Franklin girls and third-seeded Harrisburg after four quarters and an overtime period Thursday night in the semifinals of the Class 2 District 7 Tournament in New Franklin. When the dust settled, it was New Franklin on top 46-43. They will now advance to the championship game on Saturday against defending champion, Salisbury.

For Harrisburg, the loss marks the end of a hard-fought season highlighted by wins over Boonville, Mexico, and Salisbury. They finish with an overall record of 16-12, the best since 2014.

“We really had higher expectations and hopes of what we wanted this year to be,” said Harrisburg coach Ryan Richardson. “It’s just the way the ball falls sometimes.”

The final five minutes of Thursday’s game turned out to be some of the most thrilling basketball played so far in a district loaded with talent. After trading blows for four quarters, it would take another four minutes to decide which team would advance to play for a title and which would go home.

It appeared that New Franklin would emerge the winner after four quarters. But with 7.8 seconds remaining at the end of regulation, Harrisburg had possession of the ball following a timeout. New Franklin’s Lily Chitwood had just missed the front end of a 1-and-1 situation at the free-throw line just 10 seconds before to keep the deficit at two points. In 2.8 seconds, Harrisburg senior Brecca Thornhill inbounded the ball to fellow senior Carli Ellis, who sank the tying basket.

New Franklin could not get the ball downcourt in the final five seconds, sending the game into overtime.

Tied 36-36 after four quarters, Chitwood made two free throws 97 seconds into overtime to give New Franklin a two-point lead. But Ellis answered 30 seconds later with a reverse layup to tie the game once again.

With 1:45 on the clock, New Franklin sophomore Brynn Belstle connected on a 3-pointer that turned out to be the difference maker. Harrisburg pulled within one point but was unable to tie or retake the lead.

Harrisburg came close. With 14.4 seconds left, Ellis sank the first of two free-throw chances. Then coach Richardson called a timeout.

“We were going through both scenarios,” Richardson explained. “If she missed, I didn’t think I would get another chance at a timeout. We took the time out, and I took the risk of freezing her. We wanted a game plan for the remaining 14 seconds.”

Ellis drained the second free throw to pull her team within one point of the lead.

Seconds later, up 44-43, New Franklin senior Carli Dorson found herself on the line with two shots and 11.7 seconds on the clock. She sank both to give her team a key three-point advantage.

“She’s a senior and a four-year starter. I was pretty confident at that point,” said New Franklin coach Morgan Grosse. “She was the best one we could put on the line in that scenario, considering the situation. She did great.”

Down by three with the game clock about to expire, Harrisburg sprinted the ball down the floor. But a 3-point shot by freshman Jaidyn Stephenson missed. A whistle stopped the clock with five ticks left, and a jump ball call gave Harrisburg the ball for one last possession. A tying 3-point shot by Ellis missed as the buzzer signaled the end of the game.

“I’m just glad we had a shot at the end and that we had an opportunity to dictate the way the game ended,” Richardson said after the game. “I wish it had gone the other way.”

Both teams were evenly matched. New Franklin held the height advantage, and Grosse said rebounded was the difference maker.

“Our biggest concern for us was just not boxing out,” Grosse said. “I thought we did a great job of that, considering they do a really good job of crashing and getting rebounds.”

After a slow start to the game, Harrisburg strung together six straight points to take an early lead. Four of those points were scored after Dorson was pulled from the game after racking up two quick fouls in the first three minutes.

But New Franklin battled back and took a one-point lead on the first of three 3-point shots by Chitwood with 1:33 left in the first quarter. Harrisburg answered with a bucket by Thornhill to put Harrisburg back in front, 8-7, after one quarter.

Both teams came alive in the second, combining for 32 total points in the highest-scoring period of the game. New Franklin tied the game on a free throw by sophomore Kelsi Fair. But Harrisburg responded with a 3-point basket by sophomore Charlotte Canote to go up 11-8.

A 3-pointer by Chitwood two minutes later once again tied the score. The lead would change four more times and tie twice over the next two minutes as both teams lit up the scoreboard. After trailing by four, New Franklin put together a strong finish in the final two minutes, outscoring Harrisburg 9-2 to take a 25-22 lead into halftime.

Coming out of the break, Chitwood fired off a basket to push New Franklin’s lead to five points. Harrisburg would claw back into the game, outscoring New Franklin 8-6 in the third period to come within one point with eight minutes left to play in regulation.

New Franklin again widened the gap to start the fourth quarter, leading as much as four points until Thornhill turned a steal into a layup to make it a two-point game with under two minutes to play. After a wild, back-and-forth minute and a half, Ellis scored the basket with five seconds left that would tie the game and send it into overtime.

“We were one possession away. One possession at any point in that game probably changes the outcome,” Richardson said. “We didn’t get it, and sometimes that’s the way the ball falls. That’s the game of basketball.

“We thought we had a little bit more in us. That’s the hard part.”

Harrisburg’s two seniors, Brecca Thornhill and Carli Ellis, led their team in scoring in their final game in a Bulldogs uniform. Thornhill posted a team-high 14 points and finished 4-for-6 from the line. Ellis made all six of her free throws, scoring 10 points on the night. Canote finished with eight points off the bench, and junior Emma Fisher had six points.

“I’m really proud of this team,” said Richardson. “Carli and Brecca have changed this program for the better and hopefully for the long term. I can’t thank those two enough for the six years they’ve played for me in the program. What they were able to do together, and get people to do with them, was really special. It’s a testament to them as people and why they’re going to be super successful in life.

“We lose two seniors who have meant the absolute world to our program. We need to figure out the identity of the team now without them because they’ve been here so long. These girls have played a lot of ball together. They know each other, they hang out with each other. It’s like losing two members of your family.”

New Franklin improved its record 19-8 overall with Thursday’s win that punched their ticket to the championship game against rival Salisbury. Chitwood led all scorers with 16 points with three 3-pointers. She converted on three of five free-throw chances.

Dorson posted nine points but was held scoreless through the third and fourth quarters. Three of her points came on 3-for-4 shooting from the line in overtime. Sophomore KeBrea Fair added seven points, followed by Belstle and senior Kelsi Fair with five each.

Grosse predicted that Saturday’s championship game against the 18-8 Lady Panthers will be a dogfight. Salisbury is her alma mater, and the title game will mark the third between the two teams this year. New Franklin won the first bout in November but lost to the Lady Panthers in overtime by three in the Sturgeon Tournament in January.

“We definitely want the Salisbury match-up, especially for me being my hometown,” Grosse said. “I’m excited for this group. They deserve it.

“I would like to think it’s going to be a close game. I think it’s definitely going to be a dogfight for sure.”

Both Salisbury and New Franklin held first-round byes as the top two seeded teams in the six-team district. Salisbury defeated a feisty Westran squad 57-43 in Thursday’s semifinal round to advance to its second straight district championship game.

Grosse said her team has been building to this game over the past several years. The last time the Lady Bulldogs won the district title was in 2016. They lost last year to Salisbury in the semifinals.

“I feel like the last two years, we’ve been talking about it, just knowing that we were going to build and get closer,” Grosse said.

The teams will tip off at 1 p.m. on Saturday in New Franklin.