FARMVILLE – The Fuqua School girls basketball team couldn't have drawn up a better first quarter in the Lady Falcons' Friday night home contest against undefeated Amelia Academy.

Fuqua sprinted out to a large early lead, before the visiting Lady Patriots chipped away at the FS lead – eventually working for a 62-41 win over the host Lady Falcons.

“I'd love to bottle that up and play with that intensity all year,” said FS head coach Harry Bryant. “Amelia has such a great team, and our girls played with a lot of heart, but we just ran out of gas.

“I hope we can use this as a confidence builder.”

The Lady Falcons started out by shooting the ball as well as they have all season. Guard Tatum Davis buried two three-pointers in the first quarter, and five different Fuqua players scored, as the Lady Falcons jumped out to an 18-4 lead late in the period.

Amelia Academy began to chip away at the FS lead, and trailed 20-11 at the first break.

Fuqua managed to hold onto its lead in the second quarter, despite cooling off greatly. The Lady Falcons (3-5, 2-3 VCC) held a 27-26 advantage, that could've been larger if not for 0-6 shooting at the foul line.

The more athletic Lady Patriots continued to pressure the ball, by mixing up defenses, and continuing to push the tempo – basically tiring out their hosts.

“They went to a zone, and we were unable to get the ball in to make shots down low,” said Bryant. “We've got to do a better job at getting the ball down inside, and then kicking the ball back to the open shooter.”

A three-pointer by Kristyn Carney gave Amelia Academy (11-0, 4-0) its first lead of the game a minute into the third quarter, and Lexi Pemberton converted two straight lay-ups to put AA ahead 33-29, forcing Fuqua to call a time out.

A bucket by Charlotte Cave with 3:11 left to play in the third pulled FS to within two points at 33-31, but she missed on the three-point-play opportunity. Amelia Academy ended the quarter with an 8-0 run to hold a 39-31 advantage going into the fourth quarter.

From there, the more athletic Lady Patriots cruised to the victory, out-scoring FS 23-10 in the final period.

“We needed a game like this,” said Amelia Academy head coach Frank Shanaberger. “Harry had his team ready to play, and they made those shots early on. It makes things more difficult when your opponent begins to see an opportunity to beat you, and they did that. We did a good job of recovering, and doing what we had to do.

“We have some lofty goals, and a game like this will only help us down the road.”

Fuqua was led in scoring by Davis, who had 11 points on the night, while sophomore guard Casey Meadows tallied ten points. Caroline Bryant added six.

Amelia Academy put four players in double figures, with Carney leading the way with a game-high 12 points. Pemberton, Amara Ezell and Dasha Sorokina had ten points apiece, while Lauren Vugteveen and Nina Bowen scored nine and eight respectively.

“Hopefully this will help us as we move forward from here,” said Bryant. “We're a pretty young team, but we're making strides in our confidence almost daily.”

Fuqua was scheduled to host Southampton on Tuesday night, and will travel to Kenston Forest on Thursday, before traveling Brunswick Academy next Monday.