After an eventful season full of ups and downs, the Fountain Hills High School girls basketball team fell in the first round of playoffs on the road. The girls faced all sorts of challenges just to get to the playoffs last Wednesday, Feb. 15, and No. 10 Chinle ended their dream of a Cinderella season.

The No. 23 Falcons left Fountain Hills at 8 a.m. to several hours up to Chinle, and they arrived back home around 1 a.m. the next day after losing 68-35 on the road. The Falcons played a close first quarter and were only down 12-16 afterwards, but they couldn’t keep up with the Wildcats.

The Falcons faced more than the No. 10 team. They were on the road for more than five hours each way in cold weather and saw lots of snow up in Chinle.

“You know, no excuses, because you should be ready to play,” head coach Amanda Baca said. “It’s the state tournament and especially in Arizona, you have to travel and sometimes it’s far. The bus ride definitely took a toll on us, especially with the weather.”

No Falcon had played in a playoff game before, and they had to play their playoff game in an arena nearly six times larger than their home stadium. The Falcon’s gymnasium has a capacity of less than 1,300, whereas the “Wildcat Den” can hold 6,000 people.

“Little bit of wide eyes, little bit overwhelmed,” head coach Amanda Baca said. “It’s not a typical gym, and although it wasn’t full, being in an arena like that, little bit nerve racking I think for them. We came out definitely a little bit tight.”

According to senior Alexis Ibarra, the Falcons started to lose energy in the second quarter. They fell behind 24-36 at halftime, and then the Falcons only scored four points in the third quarter.

Despite falling behind and taking a hard loss, the playoff experience was good for the Falcons. The Falcons have six underclassmen and one junior that can return next year with post season experience. Also, since seven of the Falcons come from Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, they were well received by the Navajo nation crowd in Chinle.

“It was really different,” Alexis Ibarra said. “First, they were so welcoming, and it was so different playing in the big arena. It’s such a big place, so many people were there, and they were so supportive. They were even cheering for us. They were just really nice people, and it was just really fun.”

Alexis led with 11 points, and sophomore CC Smith scored 10 points. Behind them, senior Titleist Patrick scored six points and freshman Kynzi Schaunaman added four more. Junior Alicia Ibarra scored three points, and sophomore Kaylee Lewis added one point.

The Falcons will lose Alexis, Patrick and senior LJ Holland to graduation. Patrick has played for Fountain Hills every year since sixth grade, while Holland has played every year since ninth grade. Alexis returned to Fountain Hills for her final year after playing here in middle school.

“We’re losing three really core individuals who know the systems and know the program and have become really good leaders for our program,” Baca said. “So there’s big shoes to fill and we’re going to miss them, but the underclassmen we have coming up are very solid.”

The Falcons improved to 13-9 this year after going 5-14 last year and 1-9 the year before. The Falcons made the playoffs this year after winning seven of their last nine games, and they enjoyed a nice five game win streak during that time.

“We always leave the locker room on a pretty positive note, try and build off of that, but I think they hadn’t tasted victory like that in a long time,” Baca said. “The last two seasons had been rough, so I was really happy that, especially those seniors, LJ and Titleist, that were here when we had five players on the floor and were here when there was one sub, I was just really happy to have them have some success. It was very positive in the locker room and practice.”

The Falcons are regaining their strength as a program and are on the rise. The Ibarra sisters jump started the team halfway through this year, and Alicia will be able to return as a senior next year. The Falcons had less than 10 players each of the past two seasons, but the Ibarra sisters gave them extra depth this year.

“Having a little bit bigger team, makes all the difference in the world,” Baca said.

Baca will now move on to the middle school basketball season, and the older Falcons will move on to club or other sports this spring. The Times will do print a full season review article for the girls basketball team next week.