The Fayette girls set the tone on Friday with a 57-39 win to open the Central State 8 Conference season before a Courtwarming crowd in their home gym.

The game started an hour and a half early, at 4:30 p.m., because of subfreezing temperatures and a snowy forecast.

Fayette once again applied high pressure to force turnovers and create transition points as the Falcons cruised to an 11-3 lead after eight minutes.

Offensively, junior Paige Vroman created a spark with a 3-point basket off the glass just 93 seconds into the game to open a lead Fayette would never surrender. She would finish the night with 23 points, one point short of her career high, to lead all scorers.

“We want our defense to control our offense. We want to control the tempo of the game, and when we’re getting touches in the full court setting, and that leads to transition layups, that’s all we really want,” said Fayette coach Rachel England. “This is a great team when they own the tempo and the pace of the game. I told them, as long as we keep our foot on the gas, we’re going to be fine this game.”

The Falcons allowed just three points from Linn in the first quarter before duking it out to a 30-15 advantage at halftime.

Fayette continued to control the inside in the second half, earning repeated trips to the line. The Falcons scored almost half their points from free throws in the third quarter, sinking seven of 11 attempts, compared to four from the field.

But Fayette wasn’t without foul trouble on the other end. Sophomore forward Rylan Roberts was relegated to the bench for much of the second half after drawing her fourth foul less than three minutes into the third period. Senior Browyn Eubanks fouled in the fourth quarter, and Linn junior Ali Russell also left the game with five fouls, albeit with only 12.5 seconds left in the game.

“We knew coming into this game they were going to have a heavy post presence. So I gave Rylan the same assignment as when we played Brunswick. Completely front the post, and we would just pinch her all night,” England explained. “She scored eight, and they hit a few shots from no man’s land. That’s what we were going to have to gamble with. I would rather have eight in the paint than 30 in the paint.”

Fayette held Linn’s offense to just eight points in the third quarter and 16 in the fourth, forcing sporadic scoring. The Lady Wildcats knocked down two of their three 3-point shots in the final period, but couldn’t erase a 20-point deficit.

“Linn is a very, very physical team, and we were able to hold our own. I’m glad we were able to step up to the free-throw line and knock them down when it mattered,” England said. “We didn’t have Rylan the whole night, but we were still able to control the game. We let them go on a couple of runs, but that’s basketball. I said at halftime, they can’t go on any more runs. I think our girls handled it really well. Especially playing at 4:30 in the afternoon.”

Fayette sophomore Eastin Hill scored 13 points on the night, all in the second, third, and fourth quarters.

“Eastin had a good game. She’s playing really good for us,” England said.

Freshman Julia Young also provided a spark off the bench, scoring eight second-quarter points with a pair of threes.

For Linn, junior Heslie Higginbotham was the only scorer to finish in double figures with 10 points. Russell and fellow junior Carley Brandt each finished with eight points.

Neither team had much time to rest following Friday’s lopsided game. The two teams were scheduled to face one another again just 72 hours later in the first round of the Harrisburg Tournament on Monday. But the weather postponed the game to Tuesday after the Advertiser went to press. Fayette, seeded fifth, and fourth-seeded Linn were rescheduled to play at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday night. The winner is expected to advance to the championship semifinals against Class 3 juggernaut Centralia, seeded first, on Wednesday.

Prior to Friday’s game, the two teams had a limited history since both helped inaugurate the CS8 a year ago. Linn had won both matchups last season, including one in the Harrisburg Tournament.

Including Friday’s win, the Falcons are 9-5 overall and 1-0 in the conference and riding a seven-game winning streak. Linn opened the conference 0-1 with a 7-8 overall mark.