Two of the Mexico girls’ better defensive games have happened against their conference rival.

The Lady Bulldogs hosted North Central Missouri Conference rival Fulton on Tuesday night, having already defeated them 42-29 in the Montgomery County tournament earlier this season, and almost replicated the first meeting’s score at 41-29.

Mexico (5-8, 2-2 NCMC) had a 15-2 lead after one quarter and never let Fulton (2-7, 1-3 NCMC) draw any closer than five points early in the third quarter. Head coach Ed Costley said Mexico did have some defensive slip ups in the second half but maintained a good defensive game as it did before against its rival.

“It was just our rotations and making sure we’re in the right spots,” Costley said. “We didn’t give up easy looks. In the third quarter, lack of focus with detail went away, but we forced them to stay out of the perimeter and we got some opportunities in traps.”

Costley said the traps on defense helped Mexico gain a sizable advantage early in the game and put away the Lady Hornets later in the game, with eight fourth-quarter points allowed after owning a 30-21 lead at the end of the third quarter.

Claire Hudson finished with a game-high 13 points, Lexie Willer followed with nine points and six rebounds, Kenzie Taylor had seven points, and Jo Thurman picked up six rebounds. Costley said Karlee Sefrit and Kylie Burnett were also big off the bench, each coming away with steals in the second half to seal the game.

“Karlee had two charges, Kenzie Taylor had a charge and we had one other try to attempt one,” Costley said. “Those things right there, they kind of set the tone defensively. Kylie had a couple big steals on the baseline there at the end when they kind of made a run.”

Mexico had a 7-0 lead three minutes into the game following a steal and quick jumper by Messiah Simpson. Kier Henderson, who finished with seven points behind Kenzie Washington’s team-high eight points, had Fulton’s lone bucket in the first quarter with an offensive putback.

Costley said keeping Henderson at bay was what the Lady Bulldogs focused on, being successful for the most part.

“When we went to that 1-3-1, we kept their guard under control,” Costley said. “For the most part, she wasn’t able to get the paint throughout.”

Fulton cracked into Mexico’s lead initially in the second quarter, coming away with some steals and Washington knocked down her two 3-pointers.

When the Lady Hornets decreased the Mexico lead to 21-16 after an open layup by Henderson, but just like the second quarter, Hudson knocked down a 3-pointer to erase the potential for a bigger Fulton run.

“She had two timely 3s for us,” Costley said. “Claire came through with some 3s that really squashed their run. In the first half, we didn’t have as much interior play. The second quarter on, I thought we did a better job of finding them.”

Willer followed Hudson’s timely perimeter shot with some better play in the trenches as she picked up most of her rebounds in the second half, recording an offensive putback for a 26-16 Mexico lead with six minutes left in the third quarter.

After Fulton was within single digits again going into the fourth quarter following a couple of free throws from Audrey Arnold — four rebounds and three steals off the bench, the Hornets were kept off the scoreboard for more than three minutes. During that time, Sefrit and Thurman each swiped the basketball before promptly giving it to Willer for fastbreak layups.

“Defensively, under the basket, we didn’t give up easy looks and layups for them on their out-of-bounds plays,” Costley said. “Those things make a difference.”

Mexico played at Bowling Green (5-7) on Thursday before hosting Hallsville (9-2) at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.