The Fulton Lady Hornets dazzled and frazzled, but still emerged with a double-digit victory over a conference rival.
Fulton raced to an impressive 41-16 halftime lead over NCMC adversary Mexico, then encountered more rough going in the third quarter before finally closing out a 62-47 triumph over the Lady Bulldogs in front of a capacity courtwarming crowd Friday night at Roger D. Davis Gymnasium.
The Lady Hornets rode their comfortable 25-point edge into the third quarter, but a vexing trend showed up again as Fulton was outscored by Mexico 16-8 in the period. On Jan. 5 in a conference showdown at Boonville, the Lady Hornets were in front 26-23 at halftime but were outscored by the state-ranked Lady Pirates 15-5 in the third quarter and wound up losing by 10 points, 52-42.
"It's the same story - we play the first two quarters great; you can't write it (game plan) up any better," Fulton head coach TJ Quick said after Friday night's win. "Everything we want the team to do, they're doing well.
"The second half is what gets us; the third quarter has been a killer the past three games. (Scoring) eight points is not good enough and is not going to cut it. It's on us (coaching staff) to figure out how to get them prepared for the adversity and changes in the second half, and what an opponent is going to throw at us."
The third-quarter swoon didn't end up costing the Lady Hornets, who moved to 7-2 on the season and 3-2 in the North Central Missouri Conference.
"What a long week, first with it being spirit week and then homecoming, but at the end of the day it's Mexico," Quick said. "We were bringing people, they were bringing people; we're yelling and they're yelling.
"This was a huge win."
Junior guard Sloane Totta - who was 7-of-12 from the field - directed Fulton with a game-high 18 points, while also registering five assists and five steals. Junior forward NaShayla Brandt made 7-of-9 shots in supplying 17 points and also collected a game-high 11 rebounds to power the Lady Hornets to a 35-26 advantage on the boards.
Senior forward Laurel Royer rounded out Fulton's double-figure scoring with 10 points and senior guard Dacrie Depping finished with nine. The Lady Hornets shot a robust 53 percent (24-of-53) as a team.
"Sloane and NaShayla are going to get their points, but everybody has to be shooting; that's something we worked on in practice this week," Quick said. "I didn't feel like we had that in the third and fourth quarters of the Boonville game.
"Tonight, everybody attacked."
Karen Baker and Adria Costley led Mexico with 11 points apiece, while Ali Mudd added 10. Fulton limited the Lady Bulldogs to a 31-percent shooting performance (16-of-52), including a meager 28 percent (7-of-25) from behind the arc.
"When you hold a team to that, you're going to be happy," Quick said. "Mexico is a 3-point shooting team and we made sure we knew where their shooters were and stopped that."
The Lady Hornets (0-5) lost the junior varsity game 30-20. Sophomore guard Kenzie Archer scored a team-high 10 points.
Fulton is the fourth seed in this week's California Tournament and will square off against the host, No. 5 California, in the first round at 5 p.m. Monday. The winner advances to face top-seeded and unbeaten Boonville - ranked No. 3 in Class 3 - in the semifinals Wednesday night.
Both of the Lady Hornets' losses this season have come against the Lady Pirates, including a 53-46 setback on Dec. 16 in Fulton.
"California has a good, young team; they're going to pressure us, just like Mexico," Quick said. "We're not looking forward into the future, but we want to get that third matchup (with Boonville)."
Ryan Boland can be reached at (573) 826-2422, or by email at [email protected].