Historic Season Comes to End in the Sweet Sixteen

The Folsom Lake College Falcons ended their record-setting season on the road in the Sweet Sixteen of the CCCAA State Championships, falling to #1 Butte College 74-63.

The Falcons came into this game as the #8 seed, beating #9 Feather River College in the previous round. It was a much anticipated rematch as FLC played Butte in December at home, losing a close one 71-62.

The first half was completely controlled by the Falcons, playing stellar defense and executing their gameplan, holding the Roadrunners to 28 points. The lead was 32-28 for the Falcons heading into halftime.

There is a reason Butte is the #1 overall seed in the state. They came out ready to go as the Falcons made some mistakes they weren't making in the first half. That, mixed with some excessive fouling, resulted in a 17-2 run for the Roadrunners.

But FLC has shown their resiliency all season and never backed down until the final buzzer sounded. With a flurry of three-pointers late, the game was never out of reach. Butte did their job down the stretch and made a high percentage of their free throws, never allowing FLC to complete their comeback.

Despite the loss, the Falcons won important statistical categories having made 24 field goals to Butte's 22, out-rebounding them 40-38, and making 6 three-pointers to only their 2. Butte was the #4 team in the state in made threes all year at 9.3 a game. They had only ever made less than 6 threes in a game twice all year, both against the Falcons. But the biggest difference maker were the free throws. The Roadrunners were 28-37 while the Falcons were only 9-12, a 19-point discrepancy.

Eva Graf led the Falcons with 13 points and 4 rebounds. Macie Purbaugh ended her FLC tenure with an all-around performance of 9 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, and 0 turnovers.The future returning Falcons all left their mark as Emily Ko had a very solid 11 points and 8 rebounds. Alysa Lopez finished with 10 points and 3 rebounds. Corrie Harrison had 7 points and 5 rebounds. And off the bench, Ashleigh Briggs played effective minutes scoring 6 points and grabbing 4 rebounds.

The Falcons finish the year with a program-best 23-7 record and #13 in the state.

Go Falcons!