KIRKSVILLE - The Fulton Lady Hornets trailed 16-7 after one quarter and couldn't catch up in suffering a 53-41 North Central Missouri Conference loss to the Kirksville Lady Tigers on Wednesday night.
Fulton (12-9, 7-2 NCMC) went into halftime down 28-16, was outscored by Kirksville 12-9 in the third quarter and trailed 40-25. The Lady Tigers completed a season sweep after defeating the Lady Hornets 46-42 on Dec. 18 in Fulton.
"The first quarter was brutal - it's hard to come back from that right out of the gate," Lady Hornets head coach TJ Quick said of Wednesday night's setback. "You can't have a bad quarter against conference teams and we did it twice."
Junior guard Dionne Vaughn topped Fulton with 12 points, while senior forward NaShayla Brandt added nine points and eight rebounds.
"They played a triangle-and-two defense against us, and had their best defensive players guarding (senior guard) Sloane (Totta) and NaShayla," Quick said. "We run our offense through those two and we're a little off when they don't have the ball."
Sarah Lamp countered with a game-high 14 points to direct three players in double figures for Kirksville. Jessica Fleshman followed with 12 points and Mikenzie Beckley supplied 10.
The Lady Hornets (2-10) bowed in the junior varsity game 24-23 in overtime. Sophomore guard Lashone Hempfield tallied 10 points and six rebounds, while freshman forward Haden Trowbridge logged six points and 10 rebounds.
Fulton returns home for an NCMC matchup against Hannibal at 6 tonight at Roger D. Davis Gymnasium. The Lady Hornets upended the Lady Pirates 58-45 on Jan. 25 in Hannibal.