The Fountain Hills High School girls basketball team couldn’t catch a break last week, losing three games. Last week’s bad stretch extends the Falcons’ losing streak to five, but the addition of freshman Kaylee Lewis added some life last Friday, and the Falcons hope to bounce back with two games this week.

Lewis was a part of the Fountain Hills Middle School championship basketball team last year. She has been practicing with the varsity team for three weeks and made her first game appearance on Friday, Jan. 28, against Chino Valley after her transfer credits were sorted out. Lewis added seven points, but the Falcons were still beat 52-31.

The Falcons have a strange but reoccurring issue recently, they only play three of the four quarters. On Tuesday, Jan. 25, the Falcons were outscored by Camp Verde 13-2 in the third quarter, and the Falcons were down 12-0 after the first quarter against Chino Valley last Friday.

“I think we freak out,” head coach Amanda Baca said after Friday’s game. “I think our mental toughness is not where it needs to be. Soliel, CC, and LJ have all played eight quarters in the last two or three days. This was their 12 quarters today and it’s kind of hard to bounce back from that, but that’s not an excuse. I mean, there’s some points where we move the ball and look well, and then we have a brain fart and we don’t run anything.”

The Falcons’ two home losses were to region teams, and they also lost on the road at Eastmark, a non-region opponent. The Falcons were outscored 27-7 in the second half en route to a 46-27 road loss on Thursday, Jan. 27.

Junior LJ Holland, senior Soliel Smith and freshman CC Smith combined to score 27 of the Falcons’ 31 points against Camp Verde last Tuesday. The Cowboys came from behind to tie the game three times in the first half, but the Falcons always took it back and led 22-19 at halftime.

Once the Cowboys went on their 13-2 run in the third quarter, however, the game was almost completely out of reach. The Falcons held the Cowboys to six points in the final quarter, but they couldn’t make a comeback and lost 38-31.

“I think we got too relaxed at halftime,” Holland said after Tuesday’s game. “We weren’t in that head space when we went back into the third until the very last minute because that was the only part we scored in the quarter. We need, as soon as halftime is over, to get beck into that space.”

Baca said the Falcons have been dying in their live or die by the three-point shot strategy lately. The Falcons struggle with penetrating the paint and driving to the basket, but Lewis was an instant help down low in her first varsity game.

Soliel Smith averages the most free throw attempts on the Falcon squad with six per game, but Lewis took 13 shots from the line on Friday. The freshman hasn’t been in a real game since last summer and didn’t make as many free throws as she’d like, but her overall debut performance was encouraging for the Falcons.

Every time Lewis was fouled on her way to the basket, senior post player Michaela Quintana was loud and encouraging toward the freshman.

“It felt like they were actually cheering me on,” Lewis said. “It got me hyped and I started taking the ball all the time and I felt more confident taking the ball in.”

The 5-11 Falcons get a little bit of a breather with games on Monday and Friday this week. The Falcons traveled to face Bourgade Catholic (12-4) last Monday, Jan. 31, and they host Northwest Christian (7-10) this Friday at 5:30 p.m.

The Falcons have one more week and four more regular season games after Northwest Christian. The Falcons have a double header against Wickenburg at home on Tuesday, Feb. 8. The team will play at 2:30 p.m. and then again at 7 p.m., and then they host Bourgade Catholic on Wednesday, Feb. 9, at 5:30 p.m. Their last game of the regular season will be on the road at Camp Verde on Feb. 11 at 5:30 p.m.