The fifth-seeded Fayette girls upset Blair Oaks, the fourth seed, 52-38, in the opening round of the Harrisburg Tournament on Monday night to advance to the championship side of the bracket.

The Lady Falcons marshaled its full-court press and stingy defense to create a series of early turnovers, along with a dominating performance on the glass that held Class 4 Blair Oaks scoreless over the last three minutes of the first quarter. Fayette, meanwhile, ended the opening frame on an 8-0 run to take a 14-6 lead after eight minutes.

“It felt like we were ready to go intensity-wise. It was a great matchup tonight for us,” said Fayette coach Rachel Harding.

The onslaught continued in the second quarter. Fayette surrendered just seven points, five of which came from the foul line, while posting 21 points to take a 35-13 lead into the break. Freshman Eastin Hill scored 15 points in the first half with four 3-point shots. Her older sister, senior Oakleigh Hill, added nine points in the second quarter, including a triple just 21 seconds before halftime that signaled the defining separation between the two teams.

“[Eastin] was hitting from deep tonight. It’s always good when your freshman guard is scoring,” Harding said. “And that kind of thing is contagious. It gets Oakleigh going. It gets everything else going on the inside. Once those defenders draw out to her, we can look inside.”

Fayette’s balanced attack had plenty inside. Senior KeBrea Fair, who is knocking on the door of 500 career rebounds, and junior Browyn Eubanks set the standard in the paint, combining for 15 points and owning the glass on defense.

“They are so good at what they do on the inside,” Harding said about Fair and Eubanks.

Blair Oaks opened the second half with considerably more focus, quickly erasing eight points off the deficit with a run over the first three minutes. Fayette reigned in the momentum, outscoring Blair Oaks 7-6 over the bottom half of the frame to maintain a 15-point advantage moving into the fourth quarter.

With Eubanks and Fair back on the court after sitting out a significant stretch of the third quarter in foul trouble, Fayette quickly re-established its game with six straight points to hold on for the double-digit upset.

“We went into the locker room, and they only had 13 on the board. We came out a little slow, but we got the job taken care of,” Harding said.

The Hill sisters paced the Falcons with 15 points each. Fair added nine, and Eubanks scored six. Sophomore Paige Vroman pitched in four points, and freshman Rylan Roberts scored three.

Fayette finished 7-for-20 from the foul line, compared to Blair Oaks, which sank 10 of 15 free throws.

Junior Belle Boessen led all scorers with 18 points as the only Blair Oaks player to finish in double-figures.

Fayette is now one game away from playing for the tournament title. But the Falcons must first get past top-seeded Centralia tonight (Wednesday). The Lady Panthers made easy work of eighth-seeded Fulton, 61-22, in Monday’s opener and are currently ranked third in Class 3.

“They’ve got a couple of good guards who they can do a lot of things with,” Harding said. “It should be a good matchup for us. It’s always good to play a really competitive game to see where we are this late in the season. I’m excited about it. We’re advancing to the championship side of the bracket. That’s good in this kind of tournament with a lot of great competition.”

The winner will move on to the championship game at 6 p.m. on Saturday.