WESTPHALIA, Mo. - The South Callaway Lady Bulldogs not only suffered their first Show-Me Conference loss of the season but their chances for a conference title also took a hit in Thursday night's setback to the Fatima Lady Comets.
South Callaway (14-9, 6-1 SMC) was down 20-10 after the first quarter, but outscored Fatima 17-13 in the second quarter to close within 33-27 at halftime. The Lady Bulldogs then trailed 53-46 going to the fourth quarter.
The Lady Comets had just one field goal over the last 8 minutes, but clinched their victory by making 11-of-15 free throws during that span.
Junior guard Adrian Mann finished with 15 points to lead four players in double figures for South Callaway. Senior center Konnor Arrowood and freshman guard Raeghan Meyer both supplied 12 points, while junior guard Kaci Jordan added 10.
"We came out and had a little trouble scoring in the first quarter - basically that was kind of our downfall," Lady Bulldogs head coach Darren Humphrey said. " The (final) score was not a great indicator of how well the girls played.
"I was proud of the way we came to battle - it just wasn't meant for us tonight."
Courtney Wolfe put up a game-high 24 points and Sydney Neuner tallied 21 for Fatima, which is unbeaten in the SMC and still has two conference games to play.
South Callaway ends the regular season with an SMC contest at Linn at 6 p.m. Tuesday.