High school girls' basketball: Southern Boone 63, Fulton 56

ASHLAND - The fifth-seeded Lady Hornets battled but eventually bowed to the No. 2 Lady Eagles in first-round play at the Southern Boone Classic on Monday night.

Fulton (3-13) trailed 18-14 after one quarter and was down 35-25 at halftime. Southern Boone - ranked seventh in Class 3 - carried a 47-36 edge into the fourth quarter and capped off the victory despite being outscored by the Lady Hornets 20-16 over the final 8 minutes.

Junior guard Kayanna Gaines tallied 19 points to guide Fulton, which lost at home to Southern Boone 67-43 on Jan. 8. Junior forward Sydney Hedgpath added 15 points Monday night and sophomore guard Kiah Pittman contributed nine.

"I was very happy with how the girls played," Lady Hornets head coach Dillan Brunk said. "We never got down on ourselves and kept playing hard until the finish.

"We outscored them in the second half, but it just wasn't enough to pull off a win."

Gabbie Bruce countered with a game-high 20 points to lead three players in double figures for the Lady Eagles. Lexi Ussery provided 15 points and Trinity Schupp had 10.

Fulton was scheduled to face Southern Boone's junior varsity - the sixth seed - in tournament play at 4:30 p.m. today.