The Lady Hornets were outscored by the Lady Tigers 13-4 in the third quarter of Tuesday night's 54-43 North Central Missouri Conference loss at Roger D. Davis Gymnasium.
Fulton (12-10, 6-3 NCMC) suffered its second straight loss and third in the last four games.
"We just talked about heart, effort and hustle," Lady Hornets head coach TJ Quick said. "Those are the three words we put on the board.
"It's not about X's and O's; you know who gets the ball, you know who scores, but that third quarter has been our nemesis all year and we scored four points."
Fulton trailed 21-10 in the second quarter, before rattling off a 13-2 run to close the half.
Junior guard Rachel Guse' scored eight of her team-high 15 points in the quarter as the Lady Hornets rallied to tie the game at 23-all at the break.
"We're capable of doing that anytime, we've just been struggling these last few weeks and we forgot," Quick said. "Rachel ... can do that anytime she steps on the floor."
Kirksville opened the third quarter by scoring the first seven points to regain the lead. The Lady Tigers then stretched the advantage to as many as 11 points in the second half as they avenged a 59-55 loss to the Lady Hornets on Dec. 19 in Kirksville.
Fulton - which struggled on the boards in a 57-39 loss at Southern Boone last Friday night - was decisively outrebounded by Kirksville 36-13.
"That rebounding is mental and effort, and we just can't have that," Quick said. "We have to get back to fundamentals and what we do best."
Junior guard Sloane Totta - the main focus of the Lady Tigers' defense - finished with 11 points as the Lady Hornets shot 41 percent (15-of-37) as a team.
Sarah Lamp paced Kirksville with game highs of 18 points and 15 rebounds. Audrey Wichmann also supplied 14 points as the Lady Tigers shot 43 percent (19-of-54) for the game.
Fulton's junior varsity dropped to 0-13 with a 55-20 loss.
Fulton plays an NCMC contest at Hannibal at 6 p.m. Thursday. The Lady Hornets raced past the Lady Pirates 56-38 on Jan. 26 in Fulton.