Coming off a win over Class 4 Fulton on Wednesday, the Fayette Lady Falcons were riding high on momentum heading into the consolation game against the host team of the Harrisburg Tournament. Fayette led by two after a scrappy first half of basketball. But the Lady Bulldogs dialed in the pressure in a third-quarter that proved to be an eight-minute domination en route to a 50-31 Harrisburg victory.

“The first half was a slugfest,” said Fayette coach Brian Spielbauer. “We were right there with them. We were leading at half. Their pressure obviously bugged us a lot, and we didn’t respond well to it. We’re still a really young team.”

Harrisburg tied the game at 15-all on a basket by junior Carli Ellis off an inbounds pass a little more than a minute into the third quarter. From then all it was all Harrisburg. The Lady Bulldogs held Fayette just two points in the third period while jumping out to a 23-point lead.

“We talked at halftime,” explained Harrisburg coach Ryan Richardson. “They were packing in a 2-3 zone, playing us really soft and wanting us to shoot outside shots. When we talked to the girls at halftime, we told them it’s OK to pass up a shot to shift the defense to get a better shot. I thought we were more patient in the second half offensively. And we were able to crank up the pressure a little bit more on the defense. That probably got us going. And once you get the confidence going the shots start falling.”

Harrisburg went on a scoring tear, banking 27 points in eight minutes to all but claim the victory. Ellis scored 11 of her 17 game-high points in the third quarter. Freshman Maci Ellis had six of her 10 total points in the third period.

Coming out after halftime, Spielbauer said that the plan was to keep up a solid defense. “We were excited. We were ready to go put it on them. I said, ‘we have to keep playing great defense and not let them score.’ We kind of crashed on that.”

The Harrisburg Tournament hosts a diverse spread of teams, many of which are Class 4. Teams such as Fayette and Harrisburg compete in Class 2. Fayette lost two of its three games over the week but took down Class 4 Fulton in the second round. “It’s a really tough tournament. We did a good job. We got a win,” Spielbauer said.

Junior Hannah Quint was recognized for her play in the Harrisburg Tournament. She led Fayette with eight points Friday night. Senior Laci Fuhlage and freshman Melissa Innes each scored four points. Sophomore Maddox Wells and senior Emma Chew, freshman Lasaydra Jackman, and sophomore Allie Spielbauer each posted three points on the night. Senior Sidney Spieldbauer scored two, and sophomore Addie Huster had one point for the Lady Falcons

Harrisburg junior Brecca Thornihll posted nine points for Harrisburg and was three-for-four from the free-throw line. Junior Charlea Winscott finished four-for-six from the line with eight total points on the night. Sophomore Emma Fischer made scored three points, all from the line. Sophomores Kaitlyn Blakemore posted two points and Abby Rosson had one to round out the scoring for the Lady Bulldogs.

Next week marks the return to regular-season play. Fayette gets back into action on Monday in a non-conference game against Paris, before traveling to Westran on Tuesday. The Lady Falcons host Lewis & Clark conference leader Scotland County on Friday. “Everything we want to do is still ahead of us, to have a winning season and make a run at a district championship,” said coach Spielbauer. “We have to beat a Harrisburg or a Salisbury or a New Franklin to do that.”

The Lady Bulldogs open a four-game homestand against Paris on Tuesday, before hosting the Ramey Basketball Midwest Invitational on Saturday. “We've got a really important stretch coming up here with only one loss in conference,” Richardson said. “We’re still alive and fighting, and hopefully, somebody will knock off Scotland. It’s a pretty important stretch for us.”