After back-to-back close losses, South Whidbey’s girls basketball team was shredded by the Friday Harbor Wolverines on Saturday.

The Falcons held their previous two opponents, Meridian and Seattle Academy, to 27 and 30 points, respectively. Friday Harbor blew open South Whidbey’s defensive floodgates for 55 points. Led by Tabatha Keane’s 19 points and Allie Galt’s 13, the Wolverines were in control from the start and never let up.

Friday Harbor relied on its frontcourt size and transition offense to jump to a 16-6 lead in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, the Wolverines smothered the Falcons defensively, holding them to only one point. And while Friday Harbor (2-0 overall) stuffed them defensively, they ran away to a 34-7 lead by halftime.

South Whidbey recovered somewhat in the second half, but could not recoup the losses registered earlier. The Falcons mustered 14 points in the final two quarters, but allowed the Wolverines to score 21 to seal a 55-21 victory and send South Whidbey home with its third loss in a row. Falcon junior Abby Hodson led her squad with 9 points.

It was a far cry from the defensive showdowns that South Whidbey played in the previous two contests. The night before, on Friday, South Whidbey and Seattle Academy went back and forth in a 30-25 win for the Cardinals.

South Whidbey faced possibly its toughest test of the season with a Cascade Conference game on the road against King’s on Tuesday to open league play. To advance to the 1A postseason, South Whidbey must finish in the top two of three 1A Cascade Conference teams – the others being King’s and Coupeville. The Whidbey Island rivals face each other first at Coupeville High School next Tuesday, Dec. 17, and again Jan. 28 in games that will likely decide which team moves on to the playoffs.