Despite 19 points from senior captain Madilyn Watkins, the Woodland High School girls varsity basketball team came up just short in another heartbreaking home Golden Empire League loss to Natomas Friday night by the score of 40-39.

“I was proud of the effort and the fight the girls had, but I was disappointed in the outcome,” Wolves head coach Mike Barron said. “I thought we had it. The turnovers at the end killed us. The game was there for the taking, but we just missed the opportunity. We started slow, but from the second quarter on, we were the better team. We have improved so much from the beginning of the year when we were in blowouts, but now we just compete. That’s all you can ask for as a coach.”

The Wolves were also celebrating senior night, and three upperclassmen were honored during pregame festivities. Along with Watkins, fellow captain Dahlia Herrera and Laniya James were recognized.

“The seniors will always have a special place in my heart,” Barron said. “They are all truly genuine people. As a coach, that’s what you want, for them to leave you as a good person and be productive in the world.

“Maddy has been the heart and soul of the team since last year. We had some great senior leadership last year as well, but she still stood out. She is a great vocal leader, while Dahlia is our quiet leader. She doesn’t say much, but she shows up every day and leads by example. All three were some of the hardest workers we have.”

The Wolves (2-19, 1-11 GEL) came into the GEL showdown having split their previous two games. This past Tuesday, they broke through the league win barrier with a joyful 46-44 road win over Casa Roble. However, the very next day, they lost to the league’s second-placed team, Sutter, 55-40.

“The win was awesome,” Barron recalled. “It would have been nice to win on senior night, too. Casa played really hard that night, so it was really nice to get a win under our belt.”

The Wolves fell into a deep hole early, finding themselves down 14-1 at the end of the first quarter. While things looked dire, they’d buckle down defensively in the second quarter, out-scoring the Nighthawks 12-1 to go into the break down 15-13.

Highlights from the second quarter included four straight free throws from freshman Presley Pinegar, which cut the lead to 11-14. Then, with just over two minutes to go, Mayte Leon Perez hit a shot that made it 15-13.

The visitors kicked off the second half with a breakaway layup to extend the lead to 17-13. Watkins then got back in on the scoring action with a basket to cut it back to 17-15. Following a free throw from Leon Perez and a basket from the Nighthwaks, Watkins nailed a 3-pointer to tie it up at 19-19.

The Wolves then took a 21-19 lead on a Watkins layup with 2:33 left in the third. A few possessions later, Watkins, who was feeling it, let it rip with another shot from deep to make it 24-19, giving the Wolves some breathing room. Two free throws from Pinegar extended the lead to 26-19.

Things looked great for the Wolves as talented sophomore Lucy Lopez would hit a running layup with seconds left on the clock to give the home side a 28-21 lead going into the final quarter.

In the fourth, the Nighthawks would cut the lead to 28-25, but Watkins would not be denied and made another 3-pointer to retake a 31-25 lead. After a Nighthawks basket, Watkins dug deep for another bucket to make it 33-28.

A few minutes of game time later, the Nighthawks cut it to 33-30. Laniya James came in to nail a few free throws to make it 34-30 before Leon Perez added another score to go up a seemingly comfortable 37-30 with a little over five minutes left.

The Nighthawks kept grinding and found ways to score here and there, putting pressure on the Wolves to keep scoring themselves. After another Watkins basket to make it 39-33, the scoring dried up for good as the visitors mounted a 7-0 run in the final three minutes of the game to end up winning 40-39.

“I told them how proud I was of them after the game,” Barron said. “The energy never wavered, and they worked hard all night. It’s not what they want to hear after a tough loss, but man, I felt so proud of those girls. That is what Woodland is about. I tell the girls all the time that when teams come to our house, it’s going to be a fight, and last night, it was.”

Pinegar finished second on the team in points behind Watkins with 9. Leon Perez added 7 points. Junior Zoe Byrd led the way with 9 rebounds and 3 blocks, while Herrera and Lopez each had 5 boards.

Up next for the Wolves will be two final road games against Rio Linda and El Camino, set for Tuesday and Thursday next week. Both games are set to start at 7 p.m.

“Hopefully, we can get one more win this year and end it with three wins, really building toward next year,” Barron said. “I think the one thing I want to see us do as a team is to try to minimize our turnovers. I want us to really focus on the little things so we can take something into the summer and off-season. If we can pay attention to the details, we can be pretty good next year.”