When you are a smaller, Class 2 girl’s basketball team like the Fayette Falcons, sometimes you go into tournaments and run up against larger Class 4 schools, such as Mexico, and suffer losses. Sometimes, however, you go up against Class 4 schools, such as Fulton, and give and give them everything they can handle and then some. That is exactly what happened Wednesday evening in the late game in the old gym during the Harrisburg tournament. The seventh-seeded Lady Falcons upset the sixth seed and Class 4 Fulton Hornets, 51-47.

A year ago the Lady Falcons suffered a 40-point loss at the hands of Fulton in the second round of the Harrisburg Tournament, at which they finished 0-3. This year, it was the Falcons’ turn to advance. “For us to beat them tonight is a huge turnaround,” said Fayette coach Brian Spielbauer.

The Lady Falcons seemed to have a better feel for the game Wednesday as they welcomed back senior point guard Laci Fuhlage after a brief illness. It may be that Fuhlage was just what the doctor ordered. “We hustled hard Monday night,” said Spielbauer. “Laci helps a lot. She makes it easy bringing the ball down, she’s a good player offensively and does a lot for us. When she’s gone it’s different.”

Fayette finished the first quarter up 11-5, before opening a 12-point lead to go up 28-16 at halftime.

Fulton, however, did not roll over and play dead. The Hornets fought back during the third, outscoring the Lady Falcons 16-12 to narrow Fayette’s lead to 40-32 to start the fourth. The Lady Hornets again outscored the Lady Falcons in the fourth, but it was not enough. The two teams battled back and forth before Fayette came out on top 51-47.

Junior Hannah Quint led the Lady Falcons with 15 points on the night. Freshman Lasaydra Jackman continued to show glimpses of her bright future scoring 12. Senior Sydney Spielbauer contributed eight points including two 3-pointers. Sophomore Allie Spielbauer added seven. Fuhlage added four while sophomore Kaylea Felten added three. Senior Emma Chew finished out the Lady Falcon scoring with two.

“We did a good job, we hit a lot of shots,” said coach Spielbauer. “When we needed it most, though, our defense came through. We got stops and boxed out better. They had some good-sized girls in there, but our little girls did a good job of boxing out and getting key rebounds.”

With the victory, Fayette advances to take on host team Harrisburg, seeded fourth on Friday for the consolation trophy. Tipoff is at 6 p.m. in the high school gym.

“That’s a huge game for us,” said coach Spielbauer.