The Fulton Lady Hornets were outscored 17-6 in the second quarter and eventually bowed to the state-ranked Southern Boone Lady Eagles in a 71-54 non-conference loss Friday night at Roger D. Davis Gymnasium.
Fulton (12-8) suffered its second loss of the season to Southern Boone, ranked No. 4 in Class 3 by the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association. The Lady Hornets were manhandled by the Lady Eagles 61-33 in the semifinals of the Southern Boone Classic on Feb. 3.
Fulton was only down 24-17 after one quarter Friday night, but went into halftime trailing 41-23 after its disastrous second quarter. The Lady Hornets were behind 56-33 to begin the fourth quarter.
"The second quarter was it," Fulton head coach TJ Quick said. I thought we had some easy layups that didn't go in and that's tough. You kind of get frustrated and it gets in the back of your mind.
"That's when we started to forget the little things, like blocking out and making that extra pass."
Southern Boone controlled the Lady Hornets on the boards with a decisive 43-19 edge.
"We're not tall at all, but we've typically been a good rebounding team and we were atrocious tonight on the boards, and you can't do that," Quick said.
Senior guard Sloane Totta paced Fulton with a game-high 24 points and senior forward NaShayla Brandt tallied 14.
Kylie Shoot led Southern Boone with 17 points, Skyler Beeson produced 16 and TrEl' Shawn Smith came up with 14.
The Lady Hornets lost the junior varsity game 47-25. Sophomore guard Savannah Hart scored a team-high 12 points.
Fulton plays at Kirksville in a North Central Missouri Conference game at 5 p.m. Tuesday. The Lady Hornets - 7-1 in the NCMC - lost to the Lady Tigers 46-42 on Dec. 18 in Fulton.