The Fountain Hills High School girls basketball team is on a mission to win its last four games of the season. At 10-8, the Falcons are ranked No. 23 at the time of writing, and they have a narrow path into the playoffs.

The Falcons won both their games last week. They crushed Chino Valley (1-14) 52-24 on senior night, and then they pulled away at the end to beat Camp Verde 57-49. The Falcons hosted the Cowboys (3-12) at the Fort McDowell Rec Center on Saturday, Jan. 28, and got revenge for a bad loss to the Cowboys earlier this season.

The Falcons lost 44-18 at Camp Verde on Jan. 10, and they were missing four players that day. Senior Alexis Ibarra, junior Alicia Ibarra, sophomore Kaylee Lewis and freshman Kynzi Schaunaman were all out, and the Falcons had no presence in the paint that game.

The Ibarra sisters weren’t allowed to play then due to transfer rules, and since they’ve been playing, the Falcons are 4-1 in their last five games. The only loss in that span was a six-point loss to the No. 7 team in the state, Bourgade Catholic.

“Both of them give us different feelings, like we can really trust them because the team is more comfortable when they’re in,” senior Titleist Patrick said about the sisters. “They really know the game well and they know what to do. They coach us, too.”

Alexis Ibarra had a double-double on senior night with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Alicia matched her older sister with 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds, and sophomore CC Smith had 11 points and eight rebounds against Chino Valley.

The Falcons led 30-16 at halftime and avoided any comeback by limiting Chino Valley to two points in the fourth quarter. It would be a different story on Saturday, as the Falcons nearly lost to Camp Verde after leading by 12 points at halftime.

“We had a lot of turnovers after that first half,” Smith said. “We just had a lot of turnovers, and no one was patient, not even me. I wasn’t patient and we were just forcing a little too much.”

The Falcons would win by eight points, but Camp Verde made it a two-point game with 2:23 left to play. Smith scored seven of her team-high 15 points in the fourth quarter and Lewis made a huge play under the basket with a minute left to seal the game in her fourth game back in action.

Smith made her first free throw, and Lewis grabbed the rebound of the second and threw it up for another score. Lewis’ shot made it 52-47, and senior LJ Holland got the offensive rebound after Lewis’ missed free throw. Alicia Ibarra made two free throws with 47 seconds left, and the Falcons sealed the victory at the Fort McDowell Recreation Center.

The game at Fort McDowell served several purposes. First, it unites the school and Fort McDowell around basketball, and it helps the players prepare for playoff environments. The rec center gym is smaller than the high school gym, so fans were louder and more intense.

The Falcons went 7-17 last year and 1-9 the year before and usually have less audience than their male counterparts, but they got their first taste of a packed crowd before the Fort McDowell game. In the Ibarra sisters’ first game, the Falcons beat Phoenix Christian (11-7) 57-52 in overtime and had a full crowd for the final minutes.

“From last year, we went from having five players and barely any audience, and then since we went into OT…the crowd was just so hyped and it got our adrenaline going,” Patrick said.

“The crowd is just going to be crazy there because most of our team has family from [Fort McDowell],” Patrick continued. “They’re going to come out to support.”

The Falcons tried not to think of the Camp Verde game as anything but a home game. The Falcons are 5-3 at home, including the Fort McDowell game, but they only have one home game left in the regular schedule.

The Falcons traveled to No. 22 Wickenburg (9-6) after press time yesterday, Tuesday, Jan. 31. They host No. 21 Scottsdale Christian Academy (8-5) at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow, Thursday, Feb. 2. Next week, they travel to No. 29 Northwest Christian (4-9) on Wednesday, Feb. 8, and they go to Bourgade Catholic on Thursday, Feb. 9, for the season finale.

The Falcons already lost their first game with Wickenburg and Scottsdale Christian, but they will be a different team with the addition of the Ibarra sisters in the rematches. The Falcons know Bourgade Catholic will be a tough task on the road, but a playoff berth depends on how they finish the year.

“That’s what we’ve talked about these last few games,” Smith said. “We got to win all of them. Bourgade’s probably going to be a tough game, but we’ll be ready for it though.”