The top-seeded Monroe City teams dominated the 24th Annual Clopton Invitational Tournament last week, winning both the girl’s and boy’s championship games on Friday night – but a series of firsts brought joy to a number of area teams during the week.

Both the Louisiana and Elsberry boy’s teams captured their first wins of the season and the Louisiana girls played for the first time since the Monroe City Tournament.

The eighth-seeded Lady Bulldogs even had a second half lead in the semifinal, playing relaxed and having fun against (5) Wright City in the elimination loss.

The sixth-seeded Louisiana boys not only downed (7) Silex, 52-37, in the consolation semifinal, but also made it back-to-back wins by eliminating (8) Elsberry, 51-33, in the consolation title game played in the old Clopton Gym on Friday night.

The sixth-seeded Silex girls have now won three of their last four games, along with picking up consolation honors. The Lady Owls beat (7) Winfield, 46-35, in the semifinal and knocked off (5) Wright City, 33-29, in the final. The only loss for the Lady Owls was in the opening round, a 49-36 setback to a tough third-seeded Elsberry squad.

The Elsberry girls fell to (2) Clopton in the second round and dropped the third place game against (4) Mark Twain, 50-46. While the Lady Tigers topped (5) Wright City, 56-44, in the opening round on Monday, Mark Twain fell to (1) Monroe City, 55-37, in the semifinals.

The Monroe City girls avenged last year’s loss in the title game to Clopton by beating the Lady Hawks, 62-41, in this year’s title tilt. The Lady Panthers also dominated (4) Mark Twain and (8) Louisiana in the preliminary rounds en route to the title. The Lady Hawks flew past (7) Winfield, 62-19, in the opening round and survived a 35-24 defensive matchup with (3) Elsberry on their way to the title game.

On the boy’s side of the bracket, after picking up a 44-10 win over (7) Silex in the opening round, the second-seeded Clopton Hawks suffered two setbacks, falling to (3) Winfield, 59-45, in the semifinal on Thursday and were narrowly edged in the third place game, 55-52, by (5) Wright City in the third place game.

The top-seeded Monroe City boys beat (8) Elsberry, 66-18, in the opening round and then knocked off (5) Wright City, 62-27, in the semifinal before throttling third-seeded Winfield, 48-28, for the tournament crown.

The title was third straight for the Panthers at the Clopton Tournament and their second championship of the season after winning their home tournament before the Christmas holiday.

With bad weather rolling in, school officials made the decision last week to scrap the usual plan of separate nights for the girls and boys. Instead all six finals were played on Friday night.

Find more coverage of the Clopton Tournament in the upcoming edition of the Eagle 102 Patriot and on the KJFM Eagle 102 Facebook page, along with photo highlights. Follow your area teams in person, at home and away, by staying tuned to KJFM Radio for the best and most complete coverage of area sports.