It might have taken a few games for things to click back into place for the Fountain Hills High School girls basketball team but once it did, the Falcon squad was a force on the court to be reckoned with.

Like their male counterparts, the Lady Falcons’ 2018-19 season ended in the second round of the state tournament in a game against Holbrook.

That 64-38 loss may not have been how head coach, Mandy Baca, wanted to end the season but, overall, she said she is happy with the effort her team showed throughout the past several months.

“Overall, I thought the season was positive,” Baca said. “For me, taking a year off and then getting back into the swing of things gave me a different perspective. Overall, I was really proud of each kid that came out.”

Baca, in particular, was proud of the three seniors on the team, Lauren Schultz, Gabbi Coughlin and Jocelyn McCarthy, who she has been coaching since middle school.

“I am going to miss the three seniors a whole lot,” Baca said. “They were pretty much the core of the team. The juniors, well, they’ll have some big shoes to fill next year.”

The Lady Falcons started the season with a 46-37 win against Paradise Honors. However, FHHS lost its next three games – the team’s longest losing streak of the season – and then rotated between wins and losses entering into winter break.

It was during the break that Baca’s favorite game popped up, something she said could be seen as a turning point of the season during winter tournament.

“It is definitely the Payson game,” Baca said. “Because (Payson) has two six-footers and our biggest kid is 5’9 on a good day. So we, after losing to them earlier, tweaked our defense and worked a little zone. [The Falcons] came out with such fire that I hadn’t seen from November to that day. That was one of the better games we played and that excitement gave them their first taste of winning this year. A good win, so that one sticks.”

For the last half of the regular season the Lady Falcons had a 6-4 record, winning with more dominating leads and stringing together a three-game winning streak. By the time the regular season came to a close, the team was in position to play in the state tournament.

FHHS’ first round opponent, in what would turn out to be a close playoff game, was Northwest Christian. It was a defensive battle between the two teams all the way up until the fourth quarter buzzer, with the Lady Falcons emerging victorious, 31-28. Losing to Holbrook in the second round, the season finally came to a close.

Thinking ahead to next season there a few things Baca wants to do differently.

“I think this season I focused a lot on the offensive side of things,” Baca said. “After a year and summer of me being away, the team took some time to readjust to the offense I have played with them in the past. So I spent more time than I wanted to drilling offense as opposed to drilling skills.”

Heading into the off-season, Baca plans to have the team get focused back on basics.

“That is what the summer is for,” Baca said. “Just, sort of getting back to the fundamentals of basketball.”

There is still a little bit of time until off-season training starts for the team, however, as Baca encourages her players to be multi-sport athletes.

“In May is when we start up summer basketball,” Baca said. “That is when the spring sports wrap up and we usually go until the end of June. We’ll practice two days in the morning and we’ll play two or so games.”