CARTHAGE — Hailey Fullerton got the Carthage girls basketball team started. Then Kianna Yates closed.
The sharpshooting duo accounted for 37 points as Carthage downed Central (Springfield) 63-51 Monday night at Carthage High School. The Tigers built a seven-point lead in the first quarter and never trailed the rest of the way to improve their season record to 6-2.
"We have a great 1-2 punch with Hailey and Kianna," Carthage coach Scott Moore said. "On any given night, I don't know who's going to be No. 1 and who's going to be No. 2. Tonight, we had a No. 1 for the first half and a No. 1 for the second half."
The first to have the hot hand was Fullerton, who scored 15 points in the opening quarter as the Tigers climbed out of a four-point hole to take a 20-13 lead.
Carthage finished the opening period on a 12-3 run — a surge that saw Fullerton score nine points with one 3-pointer, two transition layups, and a pair of free throws.
Fullerton, a senior, ended the game as the Tigers' leading scorer with 22 points on 7 of 14 shooting from the floor, 4 of 9 shooting from beyond the arc and 4 of 4 shooting from the foul line.
"I was just finding my shots, and Kianna and my teammates were all getting me good open looks," Fullerton said. "They were penetrating and kicking it out, and fortunately I was able to make a couple early shots and really get into a rhythm."
Carthage took a 37-30 lead into halftime. Then late in the third quarter, the Tigers went on another run — closing the period with eight unanswered points — to stretch their advantage to 50-38 by the start of the fourth.
Yates, who made just two of her first 10 shot attempts, caught fire in the fourth quarter and went a perfect 5 of 5 from the floor as she tallied 11 points. The sophomore's 2-point make on a floater gave Carthage its largest lead of the night, 58-40, with under four minutes remaining.
Central (2-3) drew no closer than 11 points of the Tigers the rest of the way.
"I think the passion and energy our girls are playing with is making a difference," Moore said. "We've asked them to buy into everything we're doing, and they have. And another thing that's adding to it is their confidence. It's their second year in the system. So now they don't have to think about things. They know the plays, they know their rotations, they know the nuances."
Scott also credited his team's defensive effort for being able to keep Central at bay for the vast majority of the night.
The Bulldogs had just one double-digit scorer in Makaiya Brooks, who tallied a game-high 26 points. However, Carthage made Brooks work for her point total as the high-volume shooter went 11 of 30 from the floor.
"That was our goal," Moore said. "We literally put on our board, 'Nothing easy for her.' We wanted to contain her. You're not going to shut her down. She averages 25 points for a reason — because the kid's talented. But defensively, we wanted to contest her shots and then box out when she misses. Katie Crowe and Lauren Wilson were the two that mostly guarded her, and they did a great job of making her work for everything."
Wilson also added 10 points for Carthage, while Brinna Ream and Sophie Shannon chipped in eight and six points, respectively.
Carthage plays host to McDonald County on Thursday.
-Jared Porter, Joplin Globe Sports