MONTGOMERY CITY - The Fulton Lady Hornets will get the opportunity to duplicate their title feat.
Senior guard Sloane Totta connected for a game-high 14 points and top-seeded Fulton used an unrelenting defensive presence to put the squeeze on No. 4 New Haven in a 45-25 semifinal victory at the Montgomery County Invitational Tournament on Wednesday night.
The Lady Hornets - off to a 3-0 start - will seek a second straight Montgomery County championship at 6 p.m. Saturday. Fulton will clash with the winner of Wednesday night's second semifinal between No. 2 seed Clopton and No. 3 Hermann.
"This is where we expected to be ... but we have a tough game ahead of us," Lady Hornets head coach TJ Quick said. "The players are excited to defend and (hopefully) repeat their title.
"They deserve a chance to go back-to-back."
Preying on New Haven's dismal shooting, Fulton raced to a 13-4 lead after one quarter and rolled into halftime with a 26-6 advantage. The Lady Shamrocks got their offense on track in the third quarter and narrowed their deficit to 36-21, but the Lady Hornets sealed their win by outscoring New Haven 9-4 in the fourth quarter.
"We really just went with how they (Lady Shamrocks) were playing," Quick said. "They didn't shoot very well in the first half, so we played zone (defense) - our typical 1-2-2. We packed the paint and made them try to beat us from the outside.
"When a team doesn't shoot well you know they're going to go on a hot streak, but we played great man-to-man defense (in the second half). They (New Haven) had constant screening, but all of our players knew where they were supposed to be and who they were getting (on defensive switches)."
Totta - who also had five assists and five rebounds - was one of two players to score in double figures for Fulton. Senior guard Rachel Guse' chipped in with 13 points and six rebounds, while senior forward NaShayla Brandt logged eight points and grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.
"We did a good job and had even scoring down the stat line, but we were taking quick shots," Quick said. "We really need to work the basketball, take time off the clock and get great shots."
Sophomore Lauren Gerlemann led New Haven with eight points.