FARMVILLE – It may be a while before Fuqua School and Prince Edward County will be able to meet on the gridiron, but if they ever do, there will be no need for the girls to have a powder puff game.

The physicality would pale in comparison to the two meetings on the hardcourt, including Saturday's 45-38 win for the host Falcons.

Fuqua, which took both games of the home-and-home series held a slight lead for most of the game before pulling away down the stretch to grab bragging rights over their cross town rivals.

“It was a great atmosphere, and I think both teams ate it up,” said FS head coach Harry Bryant. “We're not used to playing in front of crowds that large and into the game, and I think it made both teams play with a greater intensity.”

The game was called tighter than the previous week's contest at Prince Edward, which left both teams battling foul trouble.

“It was a physical contest,” said PECHS head coach Latasha Garrett. “Fouls early on really hurt how we wanted to play. We like to pressure off of makes, and create turnovers. When we could do that, we scored in bunches. But we weren't able to keep it up.”

Baskets were hard to come by for both teams early on. The score was tied at five apiece at the 6:00 mark of the second quarter, before Fuqua went ahead 9-5 on a basket by Taylor Frink and two bench technical foul shots by senior Caroline Bryant.

The technical sparked the visiting Eagles, who after being behind 14-11 with 3:26 left in the half, quickly jumped ahead 17-14 with 2:45 remaining. Three buckets by Daneisha Bowles came as a result of the Eagles' full-court press.

Bowles' fourth bucket in the span of 90 seconds on the clock gave PE its biggest lead of the game at 19-15 with 1:38 left in the half.

PE led 21-20 at the break, and after falling behind early in the third on a Bryant jumper went back ahead 26-23 on a bucket by Ashley Hamlin.

Lindsay LeSueur gave PE its final lead of the night on a layup with 43.5 seconds left in the third.

Fuqua senior guard Chelsea Dandridge scored five straight points for Fuqua in the fourth quarter to give the Falcons a 35-31 lead with 4:32 left in the game. Up 36-33, a layup by Caroline Wiles pushed the Falcons' lead to five points with 2:03 remaining.

Dandridge gave Fuqua a 40-33 advantage with 1:01 left and converted a three-point-play with 32.8 seconds left to put the game out of reach at 43-35.

“I'm pleased with how everyone stepped up with timely shots,” said Bryant. “This game is a model of how our girls have been playing all year. We have our lapses, and we had some tonight, but when we needed it the most, they step up and give it all they've got.”

For the Eagles, it was another in a streak of close losses.

“We shot the ball better than we have in a while, but we didn't do enough,” said Garrett. “It's frustrating, because a couple of points here and a couple there, our record could be much better, but we are where we are. We are just getting back to basics in practice. We can't let the last two weeks get us down.”

Hamlin and Pashion Banks led the Eagles with ten points apiece, while Bowles scored nine and LeSueur added eight.

Fuqua was led by Bryant, who had a career-high of 18 points, while Dandridge scored 14 and Frink, a freshman added six.

Prince Edward was scheduled to travel to Nottoway on Wednesday night and then to Southampton on Friday.

Fuqua will travel to Kenston Forest on Friday and will host Alliance Christian on Saturday.