The Fayette girls are back to full strength after a setback, fraught with injuries and illness, resulting in four straight losses, including letdowns against conference leaders Salisbury and Westran. On Friday, the Lady Falcons were back in fine form to win their third consecutive game with a 49-37 defeat over Lewis & Clack Conference rival Marceline.

The game was the third in three days for Fayette, which is still shaking off a bit of the sickly wintertime doldrums. On Wednesday, the Lady Falcons made a long road trip to Schuyler County, and it was worth it, coming home with a 61-44 win. A day later, they returned to easily defeat a struggling Knox County 42-28.

The Lady Falcons improved to 16-7 with the win over Marceline. This will mark the first season since 2012 that Fayette will finish above .500. They finished even at 16-16 a year in coach Daryl Betts’s first year at Fayette.

Fayette showed no signs of fatigue against Lewis & Clark Conference rival Marceline on Friday. The Lady Falcons scored the game’s first six points en route to a 19-3 lead after one quarter.

Fayette allowed just one field goal in the opening quarter, a basket from the paint by senior Brailey Niemeier midway through. She then sank the first of two free throws to total her team’s first-quarter points at three.

Fayette, meanwhile, kept up the pressure and quickly pulled ahead by double digits. The feather in the cap of that first quarter was back-to-back 3-point shots from Addison Powell. The senior made both shots from the right corner in a span of 31 seconds.

Fayette coach Daryl Betts credited a new press to the defensive success in a first quarter that saw six players make it into the scorebook.

“We had a lot of people contribute during that first quarter,” Betts said. “That’s good basketball. There were some layups being made. There were free throws being hit. It wasn’t just one style of scoring.”

That 16-point lead would turn out to be crucial, as Marceline made a shocking comeback over the middle two quarters. After the Lady Falcons went up by 20 points with quick buckets by junior Lasaydra Jackman and freshman point guard Addy Gibbs, Marceline switched the momentum with a 3-point shot by junior guard Natalee Pennington with 6:45 on the clock. The triple sparked a 14-5 run until halftime to cut Fayette’s lead to 11 points.

The Lady Falcons hit a dry spell, scoring just one point in the final five minutes of the first half.

“That’s why you get a 19-3 lead,” Betts said, not quite jokingly. “In the second quarter, we had some kids getting foul trouble. And that kind of affected some of our lineups.”

Marceline continued to cut into Fayette’s lead in the third quarter. Timely 3-point baskets from Pennington and senior Ireland Bloss cut the score to six points, 35-29, with 1:32 left to play in the period.

A six-point scoring run by the Falcons over three minutes in the fourth quarter allowed them to maintain their lead and return to a double-digit advantage. Bloss again chopped the lead down with a 3-point bucket with about three minutes left to play. She also drew a foul on the shot and sank a bonus free throw to make it a four-point play to narrow the deficit to seven points.

But the Lady Tigers would score just one more point, a free throw from Bloss. Fayette, meanwhile, sank four of six free-throw chances and added a bucket from junior KeBrea Fair to control the end of the game and walk away with the win.

“We got better at basketball today,” Betts said.

Fayette finished with eight players contributing to the scorebook. Junior scoring leader Oakleigh Hill led the way in her third game back from injury. She posted a game-high 17 points with a pair of 3-point buckets and went 5-for-5 from the line.

Powell finished with six points, all from the arc. Gibbs and Fair each added five points. Senior Maddox Wells, Jackman, sophomore Browyn Eubanks, and senior Kay Sullivan each contributed four points.

Betts credits much of his team’s success to its defense. Allowing just three points in the first quarter and exercising a new press that frustrated the Tigers made way for his offense to outpoint Marceline.

“To me, our defense is what wins games for us,” he said. “We saw some incredible things tonight. Browyn Eubanks had an amazing steal. She is legitimately incredible. She’s a spark like that.”

Marceline had just four players in the scorebook. Pennington led the way with 12 points, followed by Neimier with 11 and Bloss with eight.

Friday’s game was the last time the two teams would compete in the five-decade-old Lewis & Clark Conference. Starting next fall, Marceline will leave the L&C to compete in the Grand Rivers Conference. Fayette, a Lewis & Clark founding member, will leave along with nearby Harrisburg to join six other teams in forming a new conference, the Central State 8.

This week marks the final stretch of the regular season. Marceline hosted Milan for the Tigers’ last home game of the season on Monday. They played their final L&C game at Knox County Tuesday night after the Advertiser went to press.

For Fayette, Friday’s win marked a fitting close to 50 years in the storied conference. While it is possible the Lady Falcons could face Westran or Salisbury in the district tournament, those games would not be considered conference contests.

Fayette picked up a decisive road win over Class 3 Brookfield on Monday, 57-29, to kick off the final week of regular-season basketball. On Tuesday, the Falcons played their last road game at Brunswick after the Advertiser went to press. They return home Thursday to face a solid Class 1 team, Jamestown, for Senior Night. 

Fayette is still somewhat shaking off the dregs of winter maladies but is clearly coming together just in time for the final stretch of the season heading into the district tournament. The bracket was released on Saturday, with the Falcons seeded third behind No. 1 Salisbury and No. 2 Westran. They will take on host team Sturgeon, seeded sixth, at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 19. 

Fayette has little familiarity with Sturgeon. The last meeting between the two teams resulted in a three-point win for the Falcons in January 2023 in the New Franklin Tournament. The Bulldogs concluded last week with a 7-15 record after losing eight games in a row. On Monday, they barely defeated Paris 32-31.

“At the end of the day, you have to play the game,” Betts said about the tournament bracket. “The seeds aren’t that off here. I think we have a chance to win this tournament. But we have to focus on each possession, not the long game. We have to keep getting healthy playing together and that really comes down to playing defense.

“Nothing will be easy and everything will matter, but we have an opportunity after a great season to have a great post season”

The winner of the district opener will likely move on to face second-seeded Westran at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 21. The winner will advance to the championship at 6 p.m. on Feb. 23.