WARDSVILLE, Mo. - The full-court press seemed to do the trick for the Blair Oaks Lady Falcons.
Blair Oaks utilized its press only during the first quarter, but it helped forced 14 turnovers in the opening eight minutes of Monday's game against the Fulton Lady Hornets.
"We were just trying to get some easy baskets, get a little confidence built up," Blair Oaks coach Darren Heckman said after the Lady Falcons' 64-29 win. "I thought we got good shots Saturday (against School of the Osage), we just didn't make them."
Fulton committed turnovers on each of its first four possessions, while Blair Oaks started the game on an 11-0 run in the first three minutes.
"We have several girls who can get out and get after it a little bit," Heckman said. "We create an aggressive mindset, so we tried to do that with the press early on.
"We had (the press) on, then we took it off and we gave up a few buckets, so we put it back on to get that intensity back."
During a 15-second stretch late in the first quarter, Claire Heckman had back-to-back steals that resulted in easy layups. Bailey Rissmiller followed that with a steal and another layup to extend the Blair Oaks lead to 20-4 with 1:02 left in the opening quarter.
Fulton finished the game with 23 turnovers, while Blair Oaks committed just six.
"We talked about sharing the ball and not turning it over," Heckman said. "That was one of the goals we had for the game."
The Lady Falcons led 23-7 after one quarter and scored 17 unanswered points in the second quarter to build a 42-9 lead with 3:03 left in the first half. Rissmiller scored eight of her game-high 15 points during that run.
Blair Oaks led 44-11 at halftime. Halie Rackers finished with 14 points and was 3-of-3 shooting in the third quarter, adding a pair of free throws with 2:33 left in the quarter to extend the lead to 55-20.
"If we can get both of them going, it's a tough matchup," Heckman said of Rissmiller and Rackers. "Bailey gets to the rim, and that allows Halie to play off the ball."
The Lady Falcons were ahead 59-22 at the end of the third quarter and led by as many as 39 points early in the fourth quarter.
Blair Oaks outrebounded Fulton 36-22. Each of the 11 Lady Falcons to enter the game recorded at least one rebound.
"We had our guards rebounding," Heckman said. "Especially when we play zone, we talk about how we have to rebound as a group. Sometimes it's harder to rebound in a zone, we've got to all get there."
Kayanna Gaines led Fulton (2-2) with eight points.
Blair Oaks (3-2) play Thursday at St. James, which is ranked No. 9 in Class 3 in the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association preseason poll.
In the JV game, Blair Oaks won 61-17 to improve to 1-1. Mallorie Fick had a game-high 18 points for the Lady Falcons and Madison Boessen finished with 17 points.
The Blair Oaks freshman team opened the tripleheader with a 43-10 in its season opener. Jazmin Reinkemeyer led a balanced scoring attack with eight points, while Grace Boessen and Aleksa Ortmeyer each added seven points.