The sixth-seeded Fayette girls pressured their way to a trophy finish with a consolation victory in the New Franklin Tournament on Friday, beating fifth-seeded Brunswick 43-30 to hoist the fifth-place hardware. The Lady Falcons won two out of three games on the week, narrowly falling by three to eventual champion Westran in the opener before defeating Sturgeon by double digits in the consolation semifinals on Wednesday.

Fayette dialed up the pressure against Brunswick in Friday’s consolation final, forcing turnovers and creating a 13-2 run in the first quarter that resulted in four Brunswick timeouts.

A series of transition layups along with a 3-pointer by Fayette sophomore Eastin Hill highlighted the run.

Fayette finished off a low-scoring second quarter with another three from Hill and a steal that turned into a layup at the buzzer by senior Browyn Eubanks to go ahead 22-13 at halftime.

“Eastin hit some big threes for us, and Browyn had a great game for us. Her offense came from creating turnovers and steals, and that’s exactly what we need from her,” said Fayette coach Rachel England.

Brunswick senior Joslyn Brown scored the first 10 of her team’s 13 first-half points and posted a game-high 18 on the night. Coach England said Brown commanded the focus of Fayette’s defense. Athletic sophomore Rylan Roberts drew the defensive assignment and turned in a dominant performance in the defensive paint.

“Rylan had a big defensive task going into the game,” England said. “We knew we wouldn’t be able to completely stop Brown, but we knew we could contain her. Rylan is so athletic, and we gave her a task of fronting Brown, and she absolutely excelled. She was able to control the lob, get steals, and really make Brown work for every point she got.”

Brunswick crept back into the game in the third quarter, outscoring Fayette 13-10 to cut the margin to 32-26 entering the final stanza. The Falcon defense responded, holding the Wildcats to just four points while scoring 11 before killing the clock in the final four minutes to pull away with a 13-point victory.

“I keep saying we’ve had great defensive games, and I think we’re only going to improve in that area,” England said.

Hill led four Fayette scorers with 15 points, with nine coming from 3-point distance. Junior Paige Vroman added 10 points with a 3-point shot in her third game of the season finishing in double figures.

“Paige is truly finding herself this early in the season,” England said. “She finds new ways to score every night. Tonight, she didn’t quite get into a rhythm in the half-court but was able to get some transition buckets as well as some steals off our press and finish with contact.”

Eubanks finished with eight points, all scored in the first three quarters.

Junior Kennady Vroman had a breakout night with eight points in a strong transition-game performance.

“Kenna always did a great job defensively pinching the post,” England said. “She was able to get her hands on the ball a lot and create some turnovers. She’s really breaking out of her shell.”

Fayette didn’t get much rest after the long week. The Falcons traveled to Pilot Grove for a non-conference game on Monday night, winning handily, 58-23, to even their record at 5-5 overall. On Thursday, they host Christian Fellowship with a 6 p.m. contest to finish off the week. Fayette stays home for a big night on Monday to host North Callaway on Pink Out night.