The Fulton Lady Hornets suffered from a lack of experience in tight games.
Fulton trailed the Owensville Dutchgirls 42-41 and had a chance to pick up their first win in almost two months heading to the fourth quarter Friday night at Roger D. Davis Gymnasium. Unfortunately, the Lady Hornets made just two of 17 shots over the last 8 minutes and were outscored by Owensville 20-5 in suffering a 62-46 non-conference loss.
"We've never been in that situation," Fulton head coach TJ Quick said. "We were in a close game, there's more pressure on our shooters for those buckets to go in, and we haven't been in that spot before."
Quick believes her Lady Hornets (1-12) - who have lost 10 in a row - will be better prepared to handle that scenario the next time it comes around.
"It was a great position to be in and it's something we're definitely going to learn from," Quick said. "Hopefully the next time we're in that position, we'll feel more comfortable and confident to knock those shots down."
Senior guard Dionne Vaughn energized Fulton's offense and kept the Lady Hornets in the game most of the way. Fulton trailed Owensville 15-13 after the first quarter and were tied with the Dutchgirls at 32-all at halftime as Vaughn tallied 24 of her game-high 35 points in the first half.
"She gets to that basket and she's so lethal. Previously those shots, those floaters, hadn't been falling for her," Quick said. "We talked to her after the game on Monday (a 70-42 home loss to Eldon) to just go after it. Those floaters may not go, but if you stop shooting them, you're not going to be used to shooting it.
"We told her to get after it tonight and have a day, and she absolutely did that."
Fulton opened the third quarter with a 7-0 run - ending with a layup from Vaughn - to take a 39-32 advantage with 3:26 left in the period.
"Typically, we come out in the third quarter and we're back on our heels, so that run was huge for us," Quick said.
The Dutchgirls answered by ending the quarter with a 10-2 run to take the lead for good. The Lady Hornets - who shot 36 percent (21-of-58) for the game - missed seven shots during that stretch.
"Basketball is a game of runs. So was I shocked that Owensville went on a run? Absolutely not," Quick said. "We needed to try to stop it a little bit sooner to get back in the game."
Senior guard Maddy Rowe put up 21 points to pace three players in double figures for the Dutchgirls (6-8), who shot 44 percent (25-of-57) as a team. Sophomore forward Breanna Diestelkamp also logged 17 points and senior point guard Savannah Ellis added 12.
Fulton hosts a North Central Missouri Conference game against Hannibal at 6 p.m. Monday.
"I'm just proud of this team. We've been knocked down and been kicked while we're down all year," Quick said. "They came into this week and they could have rolled over. We had a rough week last week (at the California Tournament) and coming home, they absolutely improved.
"We're going to take these two games and move forward."