South Whidbey girls topped Lakewood 57-47 late last week for their second victory in Cascade Conference play.

Falcon Coach Henry Pope could not curb his enthusiasm.

“Two-game winning streak. Woo-hoo!” Pope said.

The Falcons flew to a 15-6 lead at the close of the

first stanza and were up 31-20 at halftime.

Ashlinn Prosch scored a season-high 25 points for South Whidbey, and teammate Cayla Calderwood added 22 points and also pulled in 15 rebounds.

But there was plenty of praise to pass around.

“We had good defense from Reilly O’Sullivan, as usual,” Pope said, also noting that Alannah Alber added seven assists. “She had a great game.”

“Everybody really stepped it up,” he said.

There were 66 free throws in the game, testimony to a tough night on the court. South Whidbey went to the line 41 times.

“It was a pretty physical game,” Pope said. “Our kids just stuck with it and played hard and came up with the win. I’m proud of them.”

The Falcons moved to 2-6 in the conference with the victory, which is actually better than it looks, in Pope’s view.

“We still have a good shot,” he said. “After going 0-and-12, we still have a shot to finish strong and make a run for the playoffs,” he said.

King’s and Coupeville are 1A and will drop out of postseason play to face similar-sized schools; that may bode well for a battle for third place between South Whidbey, Cedarcrest and Granite Falls.

“If we finish strong, who knows, we have a shot,” Pope said. “I told our girls our season is tomorrow.”

South Whidbey was scheduled to play Cedarcrest Tuesday night, after the Record went to press.

Pope recalled the previous matchup with the Red Wolves, earlier in the season in Langley when the Falcons lost by just four. South Whidbey played without Calderwood, injured at the time.

“We have her back,” Pope said. “If she can score 22 points again, we will win by 18.”