The Fulton girls locked in for the second half Wednesday against Wellsville-Middletown in the Montgomery County Tournament.
After a first half that saw a combined 22 points, the Lady Hornets scored 39 in the second half to defeat the Lady Tigers 51-40 to advance to the fifth-place consolation game at 6 p.m. Friday against Clopton in the Montgomery County High School gym.
Sophomore Kier Henderson led Fulton (2-2) with a game-high 18 points and was followed by seniors Kiah Pittman and Alex Trowbridge, who each scored eight points. Wellsville-Middletown (0-2) were also led in scoring by a Henderson as Carly tallied 15 points while Hallie Guzy added 13 for the Lady Tigers.
Head coach Matt Wilbers said neither team initially couldn't buy even a layup, especially in the first quarter that ended in a tie at 5. He said Fulton has had issues of not being fully prepared mentally to play at the start of games recently but locked in for the second half.
"I felt like we locked in better mentally in the second half," Wilbers said. "I felt like the beginning of the game, we didn't come out with great energy. Credit to Wellsville, as they did things that put us in positions to not score the basketball."
Wilbers said the Lady Hornets tried a new method of communicating different defenses against the Lady Tigers that uses colors and cards instead of numbers. The team could use some time to adjust to this system.
Communicating more instructions visually will help save his voice, Wilbers acknowledges, but also could help counter what he expects to be a loud gym because of the traveling Clopton fans and also Fulton fans. The Lady Hornets will need time to game plan before facing a Lady Hawks team that defeated Bowling Green 55-46 on Wednesday.
"I think (Clopton) wants to be play at a little bit faster pace," Wilbers said. "I think it's in our best interest to slow down a little bit and play at a little bit slower pace and try to disrupt the timing that they start to establish."