WARDSVILLE - There wasn't too much space to work with in the paint against Eldon's 2-3 zone defense Thursday night at Blair Oaks.
It turns out the Lady Falcons didn't need to score 2-pointers.
Blair Oaks made half of its 3-point attempts in a 52-34 win to get above the .500 mark overall and in Tri-County Conference play.
Mallorie Fick accounted for two-thirds of Blair Oaks' points in the first 11 minutes of the game by making four 3s.
"She's been shooting the ball really well the last month," Blair Oaks coach Darren Heckman said. "She hit some open shots. For the most part those shots were ones we wanted her to take. The ball was moving and going inside and coming out."
Fick beat the first-quarter buzzer with a 25-footer for a 12-2 lead.
She made back-to-back from the corner to extend the advantage to 18-2 at the 5:19 mark of the second quarter.
The Lady Falcons finished 9-of-18 from beyond the arc, including Fick making 6-of-10 on her way to a game-high 20 points.
Eldon broke up the run when Lauren Imler stripped the ball away and Haley Henderson scored a layup at the other end.
That was the start of a 6-0 spurt for Henderson, who led the Lady Mustangs with 14 points.
Other than that, Eldon didn't have an answer for Blair Oaks' zone defenses.
"Coach (Brandon) Moore handles the defensive calls and he likes to switch it up from time to time between 3-2 and 1-3-3," Heckman said. "The girls are getting better at handling that switch in transition."
Natalie Heckman, who scored 10 points, made a pair of late free throws to send Blair Oaks into the locker room up 25-10.
Eldon shot 5-of-16 and turned it over 11 times in the first half.
"I thought the effort on the defensive end, for the most part, was pretty good," Heckman said.
Bailey Rissmiller got the second-half scoring started with a steal out of a 1-3-1 zone that led to a layup for Heckman. Rissmiller tallied 13 points.
The Lady Falcons led by as many as 28 when Fick beat the third-quarter buzzer with the team's final 3-point attempt, making it 44-16.
The Lady Falcons had five players come off the bench, including Kathleen Groner, who tied for a game-high six rebounds.
"She fundamentally gets to the right spot," Heckman said. "A lot of times rebounding is about being in position and she does a good job of getting it done."
Blair Oaks (12-11, 3-2 Tri-County) is the No. 4 seed in the Class 3 District 9 Tournament, which starts Feb. 24 at Eldon.
Three teams ranked in the top five of the state poll are the top three seeds in the district: California, Southern Boone and South Callaway.
"Clearly three really strong teams and then there's some battle-tested teams," Heckman said, "so there will be some tough outs."
The Lady Falcons will finish the regular season by hosting Versailles on Monday and playing Thursday at California.
Eldon (6-12, 1-4 Tri-County) is seeded seventh in the district tournament. The Lady Mustangs have three regular season games remaining, starting with Monday's conference contest at Hallsville.
Blair Oaks won the two-quarter JV game against Eldon 27-11.
Alexsa Ortmeyer, Emma Wolken and Olivia Boessen each scored six points.