The Fountain Hills High School girls basketball team started the new year with a 55-29 win over region opponent Chino Valley on Tuesday, Jan. 3. Sophomore CC Smith scored a season high 28 points on 60% shooting and she grabbed 10 rebounds to solidify her first career double-double performance.

Smith also had nine steals and was one away from her first-ever triple double, too. Sophomore Kaylee Lewis scored nine points and grabbed 11 rebounds, coming close to a double-double herself.

The Falcons entered the game with seven players, and senior Titleist Patrick left the game in the second quarter with a busted lip and fellow senior LJ Holland fouled out during the fourth quarter. In their absence, freshmen Abisia Scaife and Zoe Jagodzinski got extended playing time.

“Abisia didn’t show too much with the scoring, but she did a lot on the defensive end. They really stepped up,” head coach Amanda Baca said. “I was very proud of Zoe, she played aggressive and on fire. She caused jump balls and had three fouls I think because she was being very aggressive, but those are fouls I’ll take…She was scrappy. She was fighting.”

Jagodzinski scored seven points, grabbed seven rebounds and stole the ball three times, while Scaife added two points, two rebounds, and a block. Sophomore Shania Rivera scored six points and added two rebounds and a steal.

Last Tuesday was the second time the Falcons scored more than 50 points in a game this season, and the first time they won back-to-back games. The Falcons went 2-2 in the Epic Tourneys New Years Classic over winter break and they were playing with seven players again. Freshman Kynzi Schaunaman missed the tournament with travel and then missed Chino Valley due to sickness.

“It was so good for them,” Baca said of her young players. “It was kind of a blessing and a curse because we had people missing so we didn’t have a lot of air and we didn’t have a lot of subs, but they got a ton of minutes. They got a ton of minutes against good teams too.”

The Falcons took hard losses by over 20 points from Leading Edge Academy and Desert Ridge during the tournament, but they beat two teams in close games. The Falcons bested American Leadership Academy Gilbert North 34-31 and they beat American Leadership Academy Queen Creek 37-33.

The Falcons were actually outscored 15-1 by ALA Gilbert North in the second quarter, and down 21-11 at halftime. Lewis scored a three-pointer to start the third quarter and Smith went to work cutting to the basket, and the Falcons outscored the Eagles 23-10 in the second half to get their first win of the tournament.

Baca said the Falcons need to improve their play when they are tired. With four games over two days, the seven Falcon players pushed their limits. Luckily for them, they’ll get a boost in the near future.

Junior Alicia and senior Alexia Ibarra will be allowed to play starting next week. The sisters transferred into Fountain Hills this year, but they had to wait until the halfway point to play. They will play in the home game against Phoenix Christian on Monday, Jan. 16, at 2:30 p.m.

“They’ll be good to go by then,” Baca said. “They’re in practicing and doing the things they need to do, so that will be a good addition.”

The Falcons played at Camp Verde after press time yesterday, Jan. 10. They host Wickenburg at home tomorrow, Thursday, Jan. 12, and that game will kick off a six game home stretch that extends until Saturday, Jan. 28.

The Falcons’ first three region games were on the road, and they hope to find more rhythm at home during the stretch. For Baca, region distinctions don’t change anything, because it’s “just another game that we have to go win.”

“I think getting those [road trips] out of the way early in the season, and then now in the thick of it, things matter a little more, being able to go home and eat your own meal in your own house and come to your own gym and be comfortable in the place that you practice, I think that’s going to help us out a lot, especially the young ones, the freshmen,” Baca said.

The Falcons are 6-5 at the time of writing, and they received the No. 20 ranking in the AIA’s first official conference rankings on Friday, Jan. 6.