BELLE -- In Clayton Stewart's first game at the helm, the Fulton Hornets opened the season with a 52-30 loss to the Belle Tigers Tuesday at Belle High School.
Fulton trailed 6-4 following the first quarter, 26-18 at the half and 40-26 after three quarters before falling by 22 points.
Bre Richmond scored a team-high 15 points for the Hornets, while Kier Henderson chipped in six. Henderson made a 3 and a team-high three free throws on four attempts.
Fulton's Aubrey Fleetwood also knocked down a 3.
While the Hornets totaled just two 3s, the Tigers drained 14, including contested shots. Belle only made five 2-pointers and no free throws.
"Belle shot lights out," Stewart said. "Everything they threw up went in. That plus when we don't execute our offense and have bad timing, it equals a lop-sided score. I loved how our energy was up the whole time, but focus, timing and execution was not there. I told the girls that teams rarely shoot that well and most of the time, it just comes down to whoever executes their offense the best, and to strike it up as them being on fire, but that we still need to fix what we can control."
Fulton fell to 0-1, and Belle improved to 1-0.
No. 6 seed Fulton faces No. 3 seed Wellsville-Middletown (1-0) in the Montgomery County R-II Varsity Basketball Invitational opening round at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Montgomery County Middle School in Montgomery City. The Hornets last faced the Lady Tigers in the 2021 Montgomery County Invitational consolation bracket semifinals and fell 51-40.