Boonville downs Lady Hornets again, this time in California semifinals

CALIFORNIA - Senior center Morgan Edwards' game-high 26 points fueled the state-ranked, top-seeded Boonville Lady Pirates' 64-51 semifinal win over the No. 4 Fulton Lady Hornets on Wednesday night at the 21st-annual California Tournament.

Fulton (8-3) bowed for the third time in as many meetings this season with Boonville (13-0), ranked No. 3 in Class 3. The Lady Hornets produced the game's first six points, but the Lady Pirates countered with an 11-0 run and were up 11-6 after one quarter.

Boonville extended its lead to 20-12 early in the second quarter, before Fulton responded with an 11-2 run to go on top at 23-22. The Lady Pirates, though, scored the final six points of the half and went into the break with a 28-23 advantage.

The Lady Hornets were outscored by Boonville 18-12 in the third quarter in falling behind 46-35, and the Lady Pirates sealed the win by outscoring Fulton 18-16 in the fourth quarter.

"I felt like we were flat and just looked sluggish, and that's why we were playing catch-up," Lady Hornets head coach TJ Quick said. "Our offense was slow and our rotations on defense were slow.

"We put in some new things and threw some different looks at Boonville, and maybe we weren't comfortable with that. As far as loose balls and effort, they were just beating us, and you can't do that against a good team like Boonville."

Junior forward NaShayla Brandt - who made 9-of-17 shots - topped Fulton with 21 points. Junior guard Sloane Totta, going 5-of-12 from 3-point range, tallied 18 points as the only other player in double figures for the Lady Hornets.

Fulton shot just 38 percent (20-of-53) as a team and committed 15 turnovers.

"We ran our plays and did what we wanted to do, we just missed shots," Quick said.

Senior guard Dacrie Depping grabbed a team-high seven rebounds as the Lady Hornets were only outrebounded 34-29 by the Lady Pirates' taller lineup.

Edwards directed three players in double figures for Boonville, which shot 50 percent (26-of-52) from the field. Senior guard Olivia Imhoff contributed 16 points and sophomore guard Paige Peterson was next with 10.

Fulton will play either No. 2 seed Jefferson City or No. 3 (Columbia) Battle for third place at 2 p.m. Saturday.

"We'll have to come out ready to go," Quick said. "Jefferson City and Battle both fly up and down the court; they play larger schools, so they have to do that. We'll have to be ready."