The Fountain Hills High School girls basketball team won back to back games for the first time in two seasons last week. Following their 44-38 win over ALA – Ironwood on Friday, Jan. 7, the Lady Falcons went on the road and beat Chino Valley 46-40 on Monday, Jan. 10.

“The game before that, where we went down in the first half against ALA – Ironwood, we did the same thing against Chino,” head coach Amanda Baca said. “We don’t show up for the first quarter, so we went down 12-1.”

The Falcons fought back to be down only four at halftime against Chino Valley, and then they played well in the second half. Baca said the locker room talk afterward was positive, and because the players are hard on themselves, they stepped up and admitted their first quarter was terrible.

With the win over Chino Valley, Fountain Hills started their region schedule 1-0. Unfortunately, the Falcons couldn’t extend their win streak to three, and they lost 57-39 to Payson at home on Wednesday, Jan. 12.

“We didn’t get back on defense like I would’ve liked, they were a little bit taller than us, and we did not box out,” Baca said. “We did better on the offensive end. Ended up scoring a bit more, moved the ball a little better against the 1-3-1. I feel like we played in spurts that game, good spurts, and then bad spurts instead of consistent basketball.”

The Falcons were down 17-5 with two minutes left in the first quarter against Payson and finished the quarter down 21-11. Senior Soliel Smith started the second quarter with a three-pointer off an assist from her sister, freshman CC Smith. Mostly through free throw shooting, the Falcons brought the score within three points with four minutes left in the half. Payson closed out the last two minutes of the half better than the Falcons, and the Longhorns improved their lead from 27-23 to 31-23 by halftime.

According to Baca, the second half played out similarly to the first half. The Falcons were not able to keep up with their rivals from Payson.

The Falcons were looking for a rebound game against region opponent Bourgade Catholic last Friday, but that game has been rescheduled for Monday, Jan. 31, at 5:30 p.m.

The Falcons have three road games this week. First, they traveled to Northwest Christian on Tuesday, Jan. 18, then the Falcons travel to Wickenburg on Thursday, Jan. 20, for a game at 5:30 p.m. This Saturday, Jan. 22, the Falcons will travel to Blue Ridge at 2:30 p.m.

“Saturday at Blue Ridge, it’s just a freedom play, but it’ll be great competition,” Baca said. “The team is not in the Valley, which is always good especially if you make it to playoffs, and you see new teams and you’ve never seen their style of play before.”

No win is going to come easy for the Falcons. They are under-sized and out-manned against most of their competition, but they are now 5-7 on the season after starting last year 0-8. Baca said her players need to continue focusing on their game plan and what they do best as they near the end of the regular season.