The Fort Dale Lady Eagles (15-4) used a 20-9 third quarter run to break open a close game and send the visiting Edgewood Lady Wildcats back to Wetumpka with a 65-45 loss.

FDA's senior guard Laura Skipper hung 24 points on the visiting Wildcats (16-2) going 8-for-13 from the floor and shooting 50 percent from the three point line where she tacked on six points and finished 2-for-4. She also had four rebounds.

Lady Wildcats' head coach Michael Norris said his team didn't play anywhere near where he wanted them to and his girls had problems up and down the floor all night long.

"We had way too many turnovers and we just missed too many shots," he said. "Fort Dale is a very disciplined [team] and they can shoot from outside and we can't."

Trailing by nine at the half, Norris said he told his girls that if they could just keep it close until the fourth period, they had a chance.

It didn't work out the way he planned as the Eagles pushed to a 20-point lead at the end of the third quarter and then used their reserves to hold the margin until the final horn.

"We were really able to press them and get a lot of turnovers and steals," said Lady Eagles' head coach Reggie Mantooth. "We really wore them down."

The Lady Eagles seem to be putting some early losses behind them and are showing signs of being able to come on strong for the playoffs in February.

"We're definitely playing better than we did a few weeks ago," Mantooth said, looking at his shot chart from the game.

"We've been working on trying to get our press better and play a little more up-tempo and we did a better job of that tonight."

Maryanne Hancock added 15 points for the Lady Eagles, nine of them from the free throw line as she shot 75 percent from the charity stripe.

Junior guard Frances Watts had the best all around game for the Lady Eagles scoring 10 points to go along with her six rebounds, four assists and five steals.

Hillary Hughes led the Edgewood Lady Wildcats with nine points with Michele Ingram and Mesha Ellis scoring seven points each.

The Lady Eagles have improved to 15-4 on the season and are currently in a close push for the top of the area standings. Fort Dale has one area loss to Monroe Academy. The Lady Eagles and the Lady Volunteers had the opportunity to clash one more time in the regular season last night.

After that, the Lady Eagles have one road trip and a three-game home-stand left to finish out the season.

The Lady Eagles will face the Colts of Hooper in Hope Hull on Jan. 25 their last road game. The Lady Eagles will return to the nest to play host to Morgan Academy, Lee-Scott Academy and finish out the season at home against Sparta.

Morgan and Sparta tip at 4 p.m. and Lee-Scott tips at 2 p.m.

The Lady Eagles will be competing in this year's area tournament that will be held at Morgan Academy in Selma on Feb. 4-5.

The winner will advance to the Final Eight tournament at Faulkner in Montgomery the following weekend, Feb 11-12. The winners will move further into the Capital City where they will compete for the state championship at Huntingdon College in the Final Four tournament.