Central Fellowship Christian Academy’s girls rolled in their season opener, it coming in the school’s 32nd Annual Lancer Tip-Off Tournament, which began Thursday and runs through Saturday (more in Wednesday’s Patriot).

The Lady Lancers beat Praise Academy 59-13 in their opener Thursday.

“We shot well tonight,” said Central Fellowship girls basketball Head Coach Chris Oxford. “On defense we tried a new defense. The format worked well. We got good movement … Put in the press. We pressed well and transitioned well, got the ball down the court well. I was real pleased with the effort.”

In the game, it was 8-0 before Praise got its first points … point … – a free throw; it was three-of-four in that regard (the Lady Lancers were one-for-one), so it at least had that going for it. Central Fellowship led 19-1 after the first quarter and 38-1 at the half, with Kirsten Albright’s shot beating the buzzer at the break.

Praise scored eight points in the third but still trailed 46-9 heading into the final quarter where it was then outscored 13-4.

All told, all but one Central Fellowship player scored in the game. That was freshman Marianna Sumrall, who did make her contributions elsewhere on the floor. Albright, just an eighth grader, led all scorers with 14. Allison Lones, a senior, had 12 and Mallory Doolittle, another senior, had 10. Sophomore Taylor Bower finished with six, junior Stephanie Clements five, eighth grader Hannah Bozeman and senior Kayla Albright four and Lindsey Rozier, another senior, and Maranda Hurst, a senior as well, two each.

Despite the blowout, one thing was evident. There was no lack of hustle on the part of the Lady Lancers, as diving for balls and full-bore was the norm from start to finish.

“We work hard in practice and we work hard out here,” Oxford said. “We know we have to. We lost a lot of seniors and a lot of our starters don’t have much experience.

“We try to make that up in hustle.”