Kylea Hoover

The Fayette girls out-scrapped Slater in the second half to reach the consolation final of the Wildcat Classic with a 39-34 win.

It wasn’t pretty offensively, but the Falcons had enough energy to make critical plays down the stretch.

Neither team had a player who scored in double figures.

Emma Chew made a 3-pointer that ended a 5-0 run for Slater and gave Fayette a 37-32 lead with just under two minutes left.

She finished with six points. Kylea Hoover also scored six points and had six rebounds.

Hoover said the key was, “definitely keeping up the intensity and hustle. Tonight we worked more as a team than we have been, so that was a key along with playing aggressive defense.”

Fayette held Slater to nine points or less in each quarter.

“The whole practice last night was rebounding,” Valerie Foland said. “If the shots aren’t falling, how are we going to make up for it with hustle? I think we’ve been lacking physicality, so we roughed each other up in practice a little bit.”

Slater led 21-20 in the third quarter when Abbey Conrow made a 3-pointer and Fayette led the rest of the way.

Conrow’s steal and score put Fayette ahead 27-23 and she found Kenzie Felten for an easy two on the next possession.

Conrow and Felten each finished with eight points. Laci Fuhlage had back-to-back baskets in the fourth quarter and scored five of her six points in the second half.

“Our shots weren’t falling,” Foland said. “But I was glad because if you look at the points across the board, everybody contributed.”

Santa Fe 66, Fayette 47

Abbey Conrow scored 24 points, but Fayette fell 66-47 to Santa Fe in the first round of the Wildcat Classic.

Conrow was 8-10 at the free-throw line and had five assists.

The Falcons fell behind 17-10 after one quarter and were down 47-37 heading into the fourth when the Chiefs pulled away.

“We had so much practice, we were really hoping to put four quarters together,” Fayette coach Valerie Foland said. “We did some really good things, but it was a frustrating game.”

Kylea Hoover had eight points and led Fayette with five rebounds. Sydney Spielbauer had six points. Laci Fuhlage had two points, two assists, and two steals.