It had been a while since the Mexico girls lost to Fulton.

Mexico vs Fulton Photo Gallery

After 18 victories, the Lady Bulldogs dropped a game 36-33 on Tuesday to their North Central Missouri Conference and Highway 54 rival Fulton for the first time since 2015. Mexico shot ahead to a 17-2 lead after the first quarter but could only muster 16 points the rest of the way as the Lady Hornets gradually overtook Mexico to win on Gary Filbert Court.

Head coach Makenzie Mudd said it wasn’t long ago that Mexico (4-8, 2-2 NCMC) faced Fulton (2-5, 2-2 NCMC) as the rivals faced each other already in the Montgomery County tournament earlier this season. The Lady Bulldogs won that game 47-29, and Mudd said it is easy to see why her team on Tuesday couldn’t hold off the Lady Hornet advance while the polar opposite was true in the first meeting.

"The problem was we were doubting ourselves," Mudd said. "We weren't as fast-paced as the last time we played them. We weren't making those cuts with as much intensity and were slowing ourselves down, which was causing us missed opportunities and then we'd get frustrated."

Claire Hudson led Mexico with 12 points and two 3-pointers and had seven of those points in the first half. The Lady Bulldogs then endured through a long cold spell that lasted from a midrange jumper from Landri Teel off a nice assist from Jo Thurman — who had three steals — near the end of the second quarter to a steal and score from Grace Hudson with over two minutes left in the third quarter. Grace Hudson followed with five points and three steals, and Hannah Loyd finished with six rebounds.

Mexico only missed less than a handful of shots in the first quarter and knocked down three 3-pointers to put Fulton in a tough spot. The Hudson sisters each converted from the perimeter along with Karlee Sefrit. Then, the ball didn’t touch the net as much.

“We missed a few shots and then it was like, ‘I missed the last time so I’m not going to shoot it or they’re coming back so I’m just going to throw it up there,’” Mudd said. “We weren’t taking the time to find the right shots or make the right choices. There was a lot less confidence than we’ve had in the past this season, so hopefully we can find that back.”

Fulton needed to gain enough opportunities to erase its double-digit deficit, which it began to do with a 24-15 deficit with five minutes left in the third quarter, 28-23 after three quarters and a tie at 28 with almost six minutes left in the fourth quarter. Mudd said most of those chances were gained on the glass.

Mexico was outrebounded 36-21 and had only a few offensive rebounds. Deztani Galbreath-Chambers had several offensive rebounds to her own credit and ended up with nine points off the bench for Fulton. The Lady Hornets were led by Audrey Arnold’s 10 points.

“We were getting in position, but we just weren’t getting our bodies low enough and boxing out the way that I know we can,” Mudd said.

After Galbreath-Chambers gave Fulton its first lead at 30-28 on a couple of made free throws, Claire Hudson injected some life back into the home crowd with a 3-pointer to make it 33-31 Mexico with a little more than a minute left in the game. Yet another offensive rebound by Galbreath-Chambers set up the most crucial bucket of the game, though, as her kickout then to McKenzi Washington resulted in a 3-pointer and a 34-33 Fulton lead with about 16 seconds left.

 “We just have to box out,” Mudd said. “We were letting her jump up and get everything she wanted.”

It is a tough loss to accept, but Mudd said Mexico can’t let it affect the rest of the team’s schedule as games become more frequent after Christmas break.

“We have to put it behind us,” Mudd said. “We can’t let this dictate the rest of our week. We have to move on and think about the next game.”