South Whidbey claimed its first victory of the season, on the heels of blowout losses, in a 41-13 win against Overlake on Saturday.

The Falcon girls basketball team rebounded quickly from losses last week to King’s and Cedarcrest, during which the offense and defense struggled. Getting the first win of the season provided some relief for the Falcons’ lone senior.

“It felt great,” said Falcon senior Madi Boyd in a text message. Boyd missed practice due to an illness Monday.

Against Overlake, South Whidbey’s defense controlled the game. None of the Owl players scored more than four points as the Falcons’ zone defense forced Overlake to take shots away from the basket.

While South Whidbey’s defense held, the Falcons scored in droves.

Early in the game, both teams struggled. Through the first quarter, the Falcons narrowly led 7-4. But they exploded in the second quarter, pouring in 14 points while holding the Owls to only two.

Out of halftime, South Whidbey picked up where it left off. The Falcons scored 13 points in the third quarter and kept the Owls to four.

“On offense, attacking the key worked the best because they had a weak-man defense,”Boyd said.

Overlake stalled to only three points in the final period, while South Whidbey added another seven for the runaway victory.

Getting the first win of the year came at the right time. South Whidbey faced Coupeville, its island and Cascade Conference rival school, on Tuesday after The Record went to press. The game affected both teams’ positions for the District 1 playoffs. Only two of the conference’s three 1A teams — the other is King’s — qualify for the postseason.

For how well the Falcons played Saturday, they struggled mightily the night before against the Cedarcrest Red Wolves.

Cedarcrest tore apart South Whidbey’s defense with outside shots and cuts to the basket, winning 80-37. Previously, South Whidbey had held teams to under 55 points.

From the start, the Red Wolves looked to shoot early in their possessions and get the ball up quickly. The pace caught the Falcons on their heels as the Red Wolves surged to a 38-18 lead by halftime.

“It kind of caught us by surprise, especially right at the beginning,” said Falcon freshman Megan Drake. “We coped well but got tired and thought, ‘Oh well, the game’s over.’ ”

Cedarcrest stuck with its uptempo offense and harassing the defense in the second half. The Red Wolves nipped at the Falcons wherever the ball went, creating turnovers and easy layups. Three Red Wolves led the way, including Susan Kenney’s game-high 22 points, Kalee Folwer’s 20 and Megan Ditore’s 18.

Only Drake scored in double figures for the Falcons with 11 points. Freshman Kacie Hanson chipped in six, as did junior Abby Hodson. Senior captain Madi Boyd scored five points. Sophomore Morgan Davis and freshman Emily Turpin each scored two points, and junior Kristen Schuster scored one.