The Fountain Hills High School girls basketball team (6-17) went 1-3 in its final week. They played all four games in three days, so the undermanned Lady Falcons were fatigued by the end of their season.

The Falcons started the four-game stretch with a doubleheader against Wickenburg last Tuesday, Feb. 8. The Lady Falcons played press defense right out of the gate, and the first quarter became a little bit of a shoot-off.

Wickenburg hit a three to make it 8-7, and then senior Soliel Smith responded with her own three-pointer. Wickenburg nailed another basket from deep, and Smith made a pass inside to senior Michaela Quintana for a layup to make it 13-10. Freshman CC Smith made a three-pointer before the buzzer and the Falcons led 16-10.

After the flurry of deep shots in the first, the baskets stopped coming. Wickenburg made a layup and two free throws, and Soliel made a basket and Quintana made one free throw in the first six minutes of the second quarter. Wickenburg made two more free throws with 2:20 left in the half, making it 19-16, but Fountain Hills found their shot and kept the lead.

Freshman Kaylee Lewis made a three-pointer, and after Wickenburg’s own three-point make, Lewis found Quintana under the basket for another score. The Falcons held a 24-19 lead entering halftime.

Neither team had much going in the second half. Fountain Hills scored five points in the third quarter, two from CC and three from Quintana, but they also held Wickenburg to only four points in the quarter. The Falcons held a 29-23 lead, but the game felt like it could go either way at that point.

Junior LJ Holland scored the first points of the final quarter, and then Wickenburg scored seven unanswered points. Head coach Amanda Baca called a timeout with 4:28 to play and the Falcons ahead, 33-31.

Without a shot clock, the Lady Falcons passed the ball around and drained as much time as they possibly could. They were not able to set up an effective play with all that time, however, and the game remained 31-30 for four minutes and 19 seconds. CC Smith hit both her free throws with nine seconds left, and then Falcons secured the win with their defense.

The Falcons managed to survive Wickenburg in their first match, but they lost 51-32 to Wickenburg three hours later in the rematch. The Falcons lacked the roster depth to effectively rest their starters, so they were tired and making more mistakes in the second game.

“I think it was a mental game,” Soliel Smith said. “Everyone wanted to beat them, just because of their attitude and the way [Wickenburg] came in here. I guess, a little bit of cockiness probably got to our heads, and we didn’t follow the gameplan, and we continued to not follow the gameplan, and it resulted in that [20-point loss]. It was kind of deserved, honestly.”

After hosting the No. 17 girls team in 3A and splitting wins with Wickenburg, the Lady Falcons hosted No. 8 Bourgade Catholic on Wednesday, Feb. 9. The Falcons started down 12-2 and made it 23-14 shortly before halftime. The Golden Eagles found some rhythm and finished the half up 31-16, before going on to win 59-38.

“When we’re not on the same page, we don’t do well,” Baca said. “The offense in the first game [against Wickenburg] was pretty good. Zone offense ran pretty well, even man offense. We’re still not as basketball smart as I would like us to be, and that will come with a lot more playing time, but we don’t get on the same page and then they start chipping at each other and we don’t do well.”

The Falcons had one last game on Friday, Feb. 11, and it is one they will want to forget. According to Baca, nothing was going in, and the Falcons had three points total in the first half. They managed to collect themselves for one last half of basketball, and they scored 14 points in the second half to lose 34-17 at Camp Verde.

With six players, including two seniors, the Falcons went 1-9 last year. This season, they went 6-17 with anywhere from five to eight players. At the end of the season, the Falcons had three seniors, one junior and three freshmen on their roster.