In an instant, the comfortable lead had vanished.Suddenly Fulton was knocking on the door, posing a threat to the Warrenton girls basketball team’s hopes for a first district title game appearance in 14 years.This wasn’t supposed to be happening.The Warriors had led by 12 with just over 2:00 left, but the margin had quickly evaporated.Warrenton’s confidence had not.Put to the test, the Warriors held on for a 54-52 victory in the Class 4 District 8 semifinal meeting at Kirksville last Thursday.“We got really anxious and started making some silly mistakes, but we kicked it in gear and ended up pulling through,” said senior Hannah Sutton, who netted a team-high 19 points.The senior watched her team give up 10 unanswered points in just over a minute’s time. It was a span during which the Warriors abandoned all the positives that had gotten them to that juncture.“For a moment we got away from what was working for us, and we started letting them attack on offense,” said Coach Greg Williams. “We weren’t making very good passes during that time either.”Sutton says she never doubted her team’s ability to finish the game.“When we were finally up in the fourth quarter, I was like, ‘guys, it’s in our hands, and we’re not letting this one go. We are finishing it,’ ” said Sutton.In previous years that may have been different, but this season the Warriors have won each of their close games. In fact, all of their losses have been rather conclusive, coming by 11 points or more.“A lot of time in the past, we would have panicked under those circumstances,” said senior Kylie Toebben. “There were times when that cost us the game.”But the Warriors have played with more confidence over the past several weeks, asserting themselves as the aggressors.They did so again on Thursday, jumping ahead 7-0.Sophomore Kaylee Anderson knocked down a pair of treys in the first three minutes, but Fulton didn’t back down.“We knew they wouldn’t go away without a fight,” said Williams. “Fulton is a quality team, and they made us earn this win.”The Hornets led 15-11 early in the second quarter, before Sutton regained control for the Warriors with a three-pointer.It was one of several timely treys for Warrenton, which knocked down five total.“We know we’ve got some girls that can hit those outside shots, and thankfully, those came at an opportune time,” said Williams.The Warriors were ahead 24-19 at halftime.As the game continued, the aggressive style of play resulted in fewer field goals and more trips to the free-throw line.Leading 37-30 going into the fourth quarter, the Warriors would take 20 charity shots during that stretch alone, knocking down 13 of them.They finished 17 of 30 for the game.“It’s a really big opportunity to be able to advance to the title game,” said Toebben, who finished with eight points. “It’s awesome to see people start believing in us.”Sophomore Jenny Jansen scored 17 points, while Anderson added eight.WARRIORS DEFEAT FULTON ADVANCEDerrick Forsythe photo.