The Fountain Hills High School girls basketball team made the playoffs for the first time in three years this winter. Last year, the Smith sisters gave the Falcons a chance to win in nearly every game. Sophomore Seilah Smith was doing her best without her older sister to start this year, and then the Falcons got another pair of sisters to push them into the playoffs.

Alumnus Soleil Smith spent most of the season assisting and cheering from the bench. Seilah was the primary point guard for the Falcons throughout most of the season, and she averaged 11.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 2.6 steals per game.

Smith was leading the team in each category until the Ibarra sisters started playing halfway through the year due to transfer rules. The Falcons lost sophomore Kaylee Lewis to injury after improving to 6-5, and then they lost two games in a row. Once senior Alexis and junior Alicia Ibarra stepped on the court, the Falcons won seven of their last nine games before the playoffs.

“When me and Alicia came back, everybody was pumped,” senior Alexis Ibarra said. “At the beginning, I feel like they weren’t as confident without me and my sister. I feel like they didn’t know what to do.”

Prior to the Ibarra sisters joining, the Falcons had two upperclassmen, seniors LJ Holland and Titleist Patrick, and seven underclassmen. Patrick averaged 5.4 points, Holland averaged 2.8 points, and Lewis was the Falcon’s second leading scorer before the Ibarra sisters with 6.2 points and 3.2 rebounds per game.

The Falcons hoped that freshmen Taleigha Bonnaha would have been another weapon they could’ve relied on. Her teammates describe Bonnaha as a positive teammate, hard worker and aggressive player, but she went down with injury in the fall and missed the whole year.

“She’s really good. [Bonnaha] was our best player in eighth grade,” freshman Zoe Jagodzinski said. “I’ve played with her since fifth grade, so all the freshmen have really good chemistry with her. I think she could’ve brought a lot to the team like a little bit more wins too. She’s very aggressive and she’s not scared of anything.”

Bonnaha led the middle school Falcons to two undefeated championship seasons in a row, but her freshmen classmates made the best of their situation this year. At times, they were scared on the court, but the three freshmen Falcons survived their trial by fire varsity season and grew from the experience.

“[Head coach Amanda Baca] had us have certain jobs, but it was kind of nerve-racking because everything was happening all at once,” freshmen Abisia Scaife said. “Everyone was yelling at us because they know the game more than us. I think them helping us really shaped us as players.”

Jagodzinski averaged 1.6 points, 2.2 rebounds and 0.9 steals per game, and Scaife averaged 0.8 points and 1.7 rebounds per game. Kynzi Schaunaman led all freshmen with 3.1 points, 3.2 rebounds and 0.6 blocks per game.

The freshmen said that Alexis and Alicia spent time coaching them in practices, and that was something they didn’t have at their old school, Red Mountain. Alexis said she was losing motivation to play for her old school before she transferred, and then she was getting frustrated only being able to watch during the first half of the season.

“I’m just really thankful for my teammates and my coaches, especially Baca for not giving up on me,” Alexis said. “There was a point before I got to play where I was doing pretty bad.”

The sisters only played 10 games, but they transformed the team. Alexis averaged 16 points, 8.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game, and Alicia averaged 11.9 points, 5.4 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 0.9 blocks per game. Alexis was the only Falcon to make over 50% of her shots, shooting 55%, and Lewis was the next most accurate at 43%.

Season highlights include Alexis scoring 32 points in the last regular season game at No. 4 Bourgade Catholic, and Alicia scoring 22 points and making all six of her three-pointer shots against Scottsdale Christian Academy. Those were the most points scored in a single outing since Smith scored 28 points against Chino Valley earlier in the year.

The Falcons improved to 13-9 and No. 23 in the state after finishing last year with a 6-17 record and No. 32 ranking. They last made playoffs before COVID in 2019-2020 with a 9-14 record and the No. 24 ranking.

The Falcons will be losing three seniors, but Alicia can return for a full season next year. She will be the only returning senior, but there can be three juniors if Smith, Lewis and Shania Rivera return. Rivera averaged 1.5 points and 2.6 rebounds this year.

“Obviously she can score. She can play down low, she can play guard, she’s pretty versatile,” Baca said of Alicia Ibarra. “She’s going to fit into the system very well, and I see her being a leader and a motivator and an integral part of the team.”

Baca will move on to her middle school team this spring and try for a third championship there in as many years. The Falcons had less than eight players each of the last two seasons, and they have eight that could return for next year before rising freshmen even join the team. The Falcons laid the groundwork for an improving program and their first-round playoff exit made the girls hungry for more.

“I think it prepared us for more challenges as we go on,” Scaife said. It made us better players, more aggressive and now we know how much we have to work to be able to beat these teams.”