Girls' basketball: Fulton 39, Kirksville 38

The Lady Hornets stopped a 17-game losing streak and picked up their first North Central Missouri Conference win of the season by edging the Lady Tigers on Saturday at Roger D. Davis Gymnasium.

Fulton - redeeming itself after a 53-33 loss at Kirksville on Dec. 14 - improved to 3-18 on the season and 1-7 in the NCMC. The Lady Hornets were down 11-9 after one quarter Saturday and trailed 23-16 at halftime.

Fulton outscored the Lady Tigers 10-4 in the third quarter to pull within 27-26. The Lady Hornets then clipped Kirksville 13-11 in the fourth quarter to pull off the comeback victory.

Sophomore guard Carly Fisher paced Fulton with 12 points and five rebounds. Junior guard Alyssa Deuel added 10 points.

"We were able to put four quarters together," Lady Hornets head coach TJ Quick said. "I thought at times in the first half we rushed things. I didn't feel that we ran our offense long enough to get the shot that we wanted. I thought we ran it and took the first shot.

"In the second half, I thought we calmed down and really executed on offense. We worked the ball and got the shot that we wanted. We have been fighting all year long and we have had some tough games during the second half of the season that just didn't go our way, and (Saturday) things went well."

Fulton was coming off a 63-40 NCMC loss at Hannibal last Thursday night in being swept in the season series by the Lady Pirates. The Lady Hornets led 10-8 after one quarter, but were outscored by Hannibal 13-4 in the second quarter and trailed 21-14 at halftime.

Fulton was only down 36-28 to start the fourth quarter, but the Lady Pirates pulled away by outscoring the Lady Hornets 27-12 over the final 8 minutes.

Sophomore guard Kayanna Gaines guided Fulton with 14 points and five rebounds. Senior guard Mattie Arnold logged 13 points and five rebounds.

The Lady Hornets play their last home game of the season against NCMC foe Moberly at 6 tonight. Fulton bowed to the Lady Spartans 64-31 on Jan. 25 in Moberly.