Before the varsity Fort Dale Eagles took the floor, the Lady Eagles held court with Monroe Lady Vols. The last time the two teams met, the Lady Eagles were defeated by the Lady Vols in Monroeville.

This time, however, the outcome was different as the Lady Eagles posted the 53-40 victory. The win proved to be the Lady Volunteers' first loss since December 11 and then their first road loss since they were beaten by the Faith Lady Rams on December 6.

The Lady Eagles took the court Friday and were able to jump out to an early 9-3 lead in a very physical ballgame.

Fort Dale quickly pushed their lead to 23-16 at the intermission.

"We played a good Monroe team that had beaten us early in the year," said Reggie Mantooth, coach of the Lady Eagles. "We played a really complete game, four quarters and I felt that we had worn them down toward the end. That helped us to get some easy baskets."

The Lady Eagles were able to maintain their lead in the second half by outscoring their burnt orange-clad foes 13-10. That brought the third quarter score to 36-26.

Once the lead reached 10 points, the Lady Eagles were able to push ahead and maintain their lead throughout the third period.

"Francis Watts played a real good game for us," said Mantooth. "She led us in scoring and had some good assists. Maryanne Hancock had 15 points and 16 rebounds and Lacy Norrell did a good job on defense against their best player. We played a lot better than the first time we played. The first time we played, we didn't shoot the ball well and we struggled. But I thought we played well in this game."

Watts and Hancock proved to be the leading scorers for the Lady Eagles. For the Lady Vols, Sara Lee finished the night with 12 points. Lauren Lazenby tacked on 12 points and Beth Majors finished the night with nine points.

The loss sets up the Lady Eagles with a potential game for the Area Championship provided they won their Tuesday night game against Hooper Academy.

The Lady Eagles will be back in action Friday when they play host to Morgan Academy in what could turn out to be the area championship game.