CALIFORNIA - The Battle Lady Spartans feasted on Fulton's mistakes, forcing the Lady Hornets' premature exit from the 22nd-annual California Tournament.
Battle scored 14 points off 20 Fulton turnovers and the No. 7 seed Lady Spartans knocked out the No. 3 Lady Hornets with a 57-54 victory in the consolation semifinals Wednesday night.
Fulton - which was stunned by No. 6 seed Fatima 77-57 in first-round play Tuesday night - slipped to 8-3 on the season. The Lady Hornets trailed Battle 12-6 after one quarter Wednesday night, but outscored the Lady Spartans 22-16 in the second quarter to pull even at 28-all at halftime.
Battle carried a slight 42-41 edge into the fourth quarter and secured the win by outscoring Fulton 15-13 over the last 8 minutes.
"Turnovers have been the story all week for us," Lady Hornets head coach TJ Quick said. "There are a lot of good teams in this tournament and they've been pressing us with a fast-paced type, and we can't handle the pressure.
"When you give a team that many extra opportunities, they're going to capitalize. If we clean up the turnovers, we'll be fine."
Senior forward NaShayla Brandt logged 19 points and nine rebounds to guide Fulton, followed by senior guard Sloane Totta with 13 points and five assists. Senior guard Rachel Guse' added 12 points.
"We'll get back to it, get back to the grind," Quick said. "We're slumping a little bit and everything isn't going in, but you have to shoot to get through it."
Maya Morton topped Battle with a game-high 20 points and Jerrica Key tallied 11.
The Lady Hornets travel to Eldon for a non-conference matchup at 6 p.m. Monday.