The Falcon girls basketball team stuck with the Wildcats of Archbishop Murphy at the end of the first quarter. South Whidbey trailed 10-9 to the top-ranked Cascade Conference team. At halftime, the Falcons still trailed 28-21.

Then the Wildcats scored in bunches. Led by Beth Carlson and Kelsey Rasmussen — with 13 and 12 points, respectively — the Wildcats scored 20 points in the third quarter and held the Falcons to 9 points to take a 48-30 lead going into the final quarter.

South Whidbey buckled down defensively and kept the Wildcats to five points in the fourth quarter. But South Whidbey’s scorers struggled against the veteran Wildcats and only scored two points.

The final score was 53-32.

Sophomore Hayley Newman led the Falcons with 16 points, including two three-pointers. Junior co-captains Jessica Manca and Makenzie Peterson scored seven and five points, respectively. Falcon posts Annalies Schuster and Lacey Williams each scored two points.

Archbishop Murphy is tied for first place with King’s at 12-1 in Cascade Conference play. South Whidbey is in eighth place with a 1-12 conference record.

The Falcon girls finished their season with senior night on Friday, Feb. 4 at South Whidbey High School. There are two seniors on the roster — Emily Martin and Lyna Nichols — both are first-year players.