A big opening quarter led the Lady Hornets to a big season-opening victory.
Fulton - the No. 4 seed in the Montgomery County Tournament - exploded for 22 points in the first quarter, riding that to a 56-25 quarterfinal win over the No. 5 Moberly Lady Spartans on Monday night.
The Lady Hornets led by 13 points after a quarter, then carried a 37-19 advantage into halftime.
"We started out great, which, in the past, we've had a hard time starting," Fulton head coach TJ Quick said. "This is a true team; you can look up and down the scorecard and everyone contributed."
Junior guard Sloane Totta scored a game-high 17 points and handed out four assists while junior forward NaShayla Brandt finished with nine points and eight rebounds.
Sophomore guard Dionne Vaughn posted eight points and six rebounds while leading the team with five assists and five steals. Senior forward Crystal Tilson hauled in five rebounds as the Lady Hornets corralled 39 boards as a team.
Mia Davis paced Moberly with eight points.
Fulton's 1-2-2 defense locked up the Lady Spartans' offense after halftime, limiting them to just six points in the second half.
"(The team has) been in this 1-2-2 defense for three years," Quick said. "So they understand the speed (of the defense) and where they need to be...you can tell they're playing like a team and if you play like that the whole game, yeah, you're going to wear people out."
The Lady Hornets will play either top-seeded Clopton or No. 8 Wellsville in a semifinal game at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.