Tied 34-34 with the undefeated Nooksack Valley Pioneers going into halftime Saturday night, the South Whidbey High School girls basketball team seemed to finally believe they can compete with any team.

Too bad the Pioneers didn’t believe that too. The 11-0 Nooksack girls yanked apart South Whidbey’s transition defense late in the fourth quarter and went on a three-minute scoring run to put the game away 60-50.

The heartbreaking loss came two days after an uglier effort against the North Cascades Conference’s second-ranked team, Blaine. A cold Falcon team travelled to the border after a week off the court only to be sent home as 54-27 losers. Shooting 29 percent from the field, the Falcons had their only ray of hope in Jordan Tobler, who pulled down 14 of the team’s 35 rebounds on the night.

Warmed up for Saturday’s contest, the seventh-place Falcons played as well as Coach Sam Lee could have hoped. Senior Hilary Wick scored 26 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and nailed three of the team’s five three pointers. Julie Robinson scored 11 points.

Still in the playoff picture even after the two losses, the Falcons need to win their three remaining games to go to post-season play.

Coach Lee said the girls have no reason to believe they will do otherwise, especially after Saturday.