If ever there were a harbinger of things to come, it was the first four minutes of Thursday’s county rivalry game between the Culpeper and Eastern View girls basketball teams.

Just midway through the first quarter, the Blue Devils had already committed six turnovers and found themselves in a quick 10-0 hole.

The visitors would go on to cough the ball up 33 times, paving the way for a runaway 49-23 Cyclones victory.

Eastern View (3-3) hurried and harassed Culpeper (1-4) from the start with an aggressive 2-3 zone defense. With the Blue Devils starting a pair of freshmen, Juliana Groves and Susan Ishmael, Cyclones head coach Mike McCombs said the pressure was by design.

“We know [Culpeper] is young,” McCombs said. “I thought our girls really came out focused and did a good job of putting pressure on them.”

Culpeper finished the first half with 17 turnovers, often struggling to get shots off. The Blue Devils didn’t register their first field goal until Autumn Fairfax converted a coast-to-coast layup with 5:50 remaining before intermission.

Meanwhile, Eastern View’s inside-outside combination of Terese Greene and Khloe Bowles didn’t have much trouble getting their shots at the other end of the floor.

Greene, a senior wing, totaled 12 of her game-high 23 points in the first half, including a personal 8-0 run she strung together midway through the second period.

“I’m always happy to see Terese play well,” McCombs said of the 1,000-point career scorer. “It’s all the more special with it being her senior year.”

Bowles, a 6-foot-2 sophomore center, notched a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds on the night. She also added six blocked shots.

“Khloe has developed well since last season and she continues to improve,” McCombs remarked. “She’s very unselfish; sometimes almost too unselfish really. It says a lot about where she’s at that she turns in a double-double almost every night despite the fact that she doesn’t shoot the ball a lot.”

Fairfax, Culpeper’s only player to reach double figures, tallied eight of her 10 points over the final two frames. By then it was too little, too late, as the Blue Devils were staring at a 30-5 halftime deficit.

“We got off to a bad start by shooting ourselves in the foot with all those turnovers,” Culpeper head coach Tony Majors said. “But regardless of that or the score, I preach positive attitude and maximum effort to them, and I didn’t see that across the board tonight.”

McCombs, whose squad suffered a deflating 47-43 loss at Battlefield District rival James Monroe Tuesday night, pointed out that there’s still plenty to work on despite Thursday’s dominating performance.

“Every game is a learning process right now,” he said. “Regardless of how many Terese scores or Khloe scores, it’s a team effort and everybody has to step up. That didn’t happen against JM, but the effort was much, much better tonight.”

The Cyclones return to action Friday night with a home district tilt against first-place King George. The Blue Devils will stay on the road, traveling to Class 4 Northwestern District foe Liberty-Bealeton.

Culpeper (1-4): Juliana Groves 0, Autumn Fairfax 10, Ella Corbin 2, Amber Fairfax 3, Kaylee Kramer 3, Sara Dunphy 3, Susan Ishmael 2, Brooke House 0. Totals: 9 5-16 23.

Eastern View (3-3): Terese Greene 23, Soniya Brown 0, McKenna Warren 2, Kaidence Brown 2, Dakota Barlow 4, Christa Brown 2, Khloe Bowles 10, Faith Tingler 4, Savanna Veazey 0, Haley Damer 2. Totals: 18 10-12 49.

3-pointers: Culpeper N/A. Eastern View 3 (Greene 3).