Sophomore Kaylee Lewis scored a team high 16 points, including seven points in the fourth quarter, and the Fountain Hills High School girls basketball team outlasted San Tan Foothills 39-35 on Thursday, Dec. 8. The Falcons are now 3-2 ahead of tonight’s region game at Scottsdale Christian Academy.

The Falcons led 30-28 at the end of the third quarter, and Lewis scored all but one basket for the Falcons in the final quarter. Lewis had two three-point opportunities in the second half after getting fouled on offensive rebound putbacks, and she was also one of three Falcons to make a three-point shot.

“She played very composed,” head coach Amanda Baca said about Lewis. “I thought she did a good job reading the floor and taking it to the bucket when she could.”

The Falcons’ past two victories came via a 21- and 27-point lead. The Falcons started down 12-7, but then went on a 4-0 run to bring it within one point by the end of the first quarter. Once down 12-11, the Falcons stayed within four points, either ahead or behind, for the rest of the game.

Senior Titleist Patrick said prior to the game that the Falcons had a habit of starting slow, but they were working on that in practice. Patrick also said that the Falcons spent an entire practice on defense so they wouldn’t allow an opposing player to score 30 points on layups all night like they did against Gilbert Christian.

“We touched the ball, but it was just to work on closing down on defense,” Patrick said. “The Gilbert Christian girl, she didn’t score any outside buckets. She just drove it every single time, and we weren’t able to stop her. A big thing was our gaps, we weren’t closing them, and that’s where she was going every time.”

The defensive practice produced benefits and the Falcons were better about protecting the painted area under the basket against San Tan Foothills. Baca was happy with that improvement, but she said it can still improve alongside other key areas, like boxing out on both sides of the court.

The Falcons outrebounded San Tan Foothills 39-38, with Lewis leading the team with nine and sophomore CC Smith close behind with eight rebounds of her own. However, the Sabercats had five more offensive rebounds that turned into easy points, and the Falcons had to find a way to overcome that challenge.

“What was going through my mind was that I had to keep my head up even though we were down,” Lewis said. “We needed to pick up our defense, and at the end we started picking up and started seeing what we could do. We kept our heads up and did smart things with the ball.”

Smith was second on the team with 11 points, and Patrick added another seven points. Sophomore Shania Rivera and freshmen Zoe Jagodzinski and Kynzi Schaunaman contributed the other five points to the scoreboard.

The Falcons could have padded their lead with extra free throws, but they at least outperformed San Tan at the free throw line. The Falcons made six of 21 attempts, and the Sabercats only made two of 13 attempts.

“That’s very poor. We shoot for at least 70% at the free throw line, and six of 21 was not even close,” Baca said. “We talked about it, watched the film and broke down why we were missing those, and then put it into a game-type scenario [at practice] as opposed to standing at the line and shooting.”

The Falcons start their region schedule today at Scottsdale Christian Academy, and the road trip will test their recent improvements in practice. The Falcons will play at 5:30 p.m. tonight, and then host SCA near the end of the regular season on Thursday, Feb. 2.

Following the road game, the Falcons will prepare for the Epic Tourneys New Years Classic from Dec. 28 to Dec. 30. The Falcons have participated in the tournament for the last several years, and it will help keep their skills sharp before a busy January. The Falcons will have six home games in a row from Jan. 12 through Jan. 28.

Baca decided against playing in a Payson tournament this weekend that would have conflicted with final exams this Friday, Dec. 16. Still, Baca wants to see more patience and composure on offense from her players, and continuous improvement on defense heading into 2023.