The Fulton girls were quickly in catch-up mode Monday in the first round of the Montgomery County Tournament.
The Lady Hornets fell behind 7-0 in the first 90 seconds and trailed 15-4 after the first quarter. Led by senior Kiah Pittman, Fulton climbed back in the game before losing 43-34 to the Lady Shamrocks.
Pittman finished with a game-high 24 points and 10 rebounds while no other Lady Hornet had more than three points, and New Haven was led by Mackenzie Wilson's 14 points and Peyton Sumpter's 11.
Head coach Matt Wilbers said the Lady Hornets (1-2) started slow like they did in their previous game at Belle, which they lost 55-43, but didn't need a timeout to settle in and start mounting a comeback.
"Early in the game, I was not sold that we were completely awake and ready to play," Wilbers said. "New Haven came out strong and hit us in the mouth. It took us a minute to respond, but we responded in the right way, in my opinion. We just didn't make enough shots throughout the night for us to climb out of the hole we put ourselves in."
New Haven's lead became narrower as the game wore on. Down 23-22 in the third quarter, Pittman drained a 3-pointer to give Fulton a two-point lead. An 8-0 Lady Shamrock run was on the horizon, though, as the Lady Hornets did what they could to pull within a possession in the fourth quarter only for New Haven (2-0) to advance to the championship bracket. Fulton heads to the consolation bracket to play its next game at 6 p.m. today against Wellsville-Middletown (0-1).
Wilbers said there are some issues Fulton needs to address now so they don't cost the team games in the future.
"I'm really proud of our effort (Monday) night," Wilbers said. "New Haven is a very good team and outside of 5-8 minutes of the game we competed with them and competed at the level we are capable of. We did not make shots we expected to make but thankfully, Kiah Pittman picked up the slack and kept us close."