HANNIBAL - The Fulton Lady Hornets appeared to have it in their possession and then it was painfully plucked away.
No. 3 seed Fulton - protecting a four-point lead - missed a pair of vital free throws late in regulation and was forced to overtime, where No. 1 Warrenton gained control and ended the Lady Hornets' season with a 48-42 victory in the Class 4, District 8 girls' championship Friday night.
Sophomore guard Ashtyn Dixon buried a 3-pointer with 1 minute, 19 seconds left in the extra period to put Warrenton in front to stay at 40-37. The Lady Warriors then sealed the title win by knocking down all eight of their free-throw attempts in the final :42.8.
Fulton - which upended North Central Missouri conference nemesis Kirksville, the No. 2 seed, in Thursday night's semifinals - finished with a 17-10 record.
"It's like you're a step short," Lady Hornets head coach TJ Quick said. "You've come so far, you've worked hard and you're right there - it's in your grasp and you just miss it."
Warrenton (21-5) advances to face St. Charles (20-7) in a Class 4 sectional Tuesday night at Francis Howell Central High School in St. Charles.
Fulton scored the final seven points of the third quarter Friday night - the last five coming from senior guard Rachel Guse´ on a 3-pointer and then a bank shot beating the buzzer - to take a 30-24 advantage. With 1:33 to go in regulation, senior guard Sloane Totta missed the first free throw but converted the second to give the Lady Hornets a 35-31 edge.
Junior guard Kaylee Anderson then hit 1-of-2 free throws with 1:03 remaining to cut the Lady Warriors' deficit to three points. Junior guard Dionne Vaughn had a chance to extend Fulton's lead, but missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with :34.7 to play.
Warrenton tied the game at 35-all on its next possession when junior forward Jennifer Jansen delivered a three-point play with :27.1 left. Jansen accounted for nine of the Lady Warriors' 11 points in the fourth quarter and finished with a game-high 18 as the only Warrenton player to reach double figures.
After a timeout by the Lady Hornets with :18.9 to go, Totta was fouled with :06.5 remaining but her first attempt on the 1-and-1 bounced off the rim. Fulton managed to maintain possession with :00.4 left, but Totta was unable to get a clean look on her 3-point attempt and it was partially blocked as time ran out.
"She's heartbroken," Quick said. "She's carried this team on her back for four years and it's by no way her fault, or the reason we didn't win.
"Those seniors are the reason we're even here. With six seconds to go, those seniors are the reason that we have a chance to win a district title."
The Lady Hornets struck first in overtime when senior forward NaShayla Brandt drove the lane to make it 37-35 with 3:36 to play. Warrenton answered on its next possession as freshman guard Allison Tonioli hit a jumper in front of the Lady Warriors bench to tie the game with 3:13 remaining.
The standoff remained that way until Dixon connected on her 3 to give Warrenton the lead for good.
"We just fell short, it happens sometimes," Quick said. "Sometimes, at the end of the day, teams are just better than you. Towards the end of that game and overtime, they made more shots than us and they were better than us."
Fulton was forced to weather a slow start, missing its first 10 shots while the Lady Warriors built a 10-2 lead. Totta finally broke through with a jumper at the 2:01 mark of the first quarter and followed with a 3-pointer with :48 left as the Lady Hornets trailed 14-5 at the end of the period.
The two teams experienced a role reversal in the second quarter as Fulton found some rhythm on offense and harassed Warrenton on the defensive end. The Lady Hornets - limiting the Lady Warriors to 1-of-11 shooting and forcing eight turnovers - outscored Warrenton 14-2 in the quarter and went into halftime with momentum and a 19-16 lead.
"We weren't hitting some shots (in first quarter), big deal," Quick said. "We weren't worried. They (Warrenton) were going to start fouling and we were going to chip back.
"We were going to get a stop on defense and come back and make a bucket. Offensively, I knew we would get going. It's a big game - we haven't been in this atmosphere - and we did that (rally)."
Totta, who completed her career as the Lady Hornets' all-time leading scorer, logged 10 of her team-high 15 points in the first half to guide three Fulton players in double figures. Guse´ supplied 11 points and Brandt added 10.
"It was a great season ... the most wins we've had in my years here," Quick said. "At the end of the day, I'm absolutely proud of this group. They give everything they have against Kirksville (in semifinals), get home late, come back and they go into overtime.
"You want to be able to win it in the fourth quarter and we had our chance - it was there and we had overtime - that's all you can ask for. You can't ask for anything else."