After trailing the third-seeded Lady Hornets by five points with just over a minute to play, a 3-pointer by Fayette sophomore Eastin Hill made it a one-possession game with 16 seconds left. But ultimately, the sixth-seeded Lady Falcons ran out of time, falling to familiar nemesis Westran 45-37 in the opening round of the New Franklin Tournament on Monday night.

Westran, the two-time defending champs, will advance to face second-seeded Jamestown tonight (Wednesday) for a chance to return to the finals. Fayette will take on seventh-seeded Sturgeon at 7 p.m. in the old gym in the consolation semifinal game.

Monday’s loss is the third in a row to Westran so far this season. The two teams have already played three times after facing off four times last season.

“It’s hard to play against a team three times. I’m just focused on our progress,” said Fayette coach Rachel England. “The first time we lost by 20. The second time we lost by 12. This time we lost by three. We are improving. We are getting better. They played 10 or 11 games now, and that was our seventh game of the year.”

Although it’s still early January, Monday’s game was the second of the new year for Fayette. The Lady Falcons defeated Class 3 Macon 56-51 on the road on Friday for their second win of the season.

England chalked up Monday’s loss to poor defensive rebounding. After taking an 18-15 lead into the break, Fayette gave up a slew of second-chance points in the third quarter to trail 28-24 heading into the final period.

“Ultimately, it boils down to us not rebounding defensively. We gave up a couple of offensive rebounds where they got some really good put-backs,” England said.

Westran outscored Fayette 13-6 in the third quarter, led by senior forward Kate Hollman’s six points.

Hill answered for Fayette in the fourth quarter, scoring nine of her team-high 13 points with a 3-pointer and 4-for-5 shooting from the line.

“We were great from the free-throw line. We were able to push the tempo of the game. But we didn’t rebound defensively as well as we should have,” England said.

Junior Paige Vroman added 10 points for Fayette with a gutsy performance that included a 3-pointer and five second-quarter points. Sophomore Rylan Roberts added seven points and converted five of seven free throw shots while mixing it up in the paint against Westran’s size. Senior Browyn Eubanks added three points before fouling out late in the fourth quarter. Senior Leah Thies and junior Kennady Vroman added two points each.

“We had a chance to win the ball game,” England said. “We showed that we could compete with a top-three team in the tournament.”

Westran was led by senior Kate Holman with a game-high 21 points.

Fayette will now have to defeat Sturgeon to make it to the consolation final. The Lady Bulldogs, now 4-4 overall, scored nine of their 19 points in the third quarter in a lopsided loss to second-seeded Jamestown, 56-19, in Monday’s opener. They were led by Allie Heath with a team-high 12 points. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. in the old gym. The winner will play for the consolation trophy at 7 p.m. on Friday. The loser will play in the seventh-place game at 5:30 p.m. on Friday. Both games will be in the old gym.