Two winless teams entered Erikson Gymnasium and only one could leave with a victory.

One-third of the season is over, and the South Whidbey girls basketball team continues to play for its first win. Again, turnovers stunted South Whidbey’s offense. In their first home game in 10 days, the Falcons fell to the Sultan Turks 54-32.

South Whidbey (0-6) struggled offensively, but slowed the Turks down to allow a 9-3 score in the opening quarter. Sophomore Hayley Newman scored the only field goal in the quarter on a jumper, and junior Jessica Manca connected on 1-of-2 free throws. Manca’s defensive pressure forced the Turks to look for an extra pass and kill time off the shot clock. She had three steals in the first quarter alone.

“I think we’re all really good athletes,” Manca said. “But we just need to get back in, like, the style of playing basketball together as a team.”

Sultan stretched the lead to 17-7 on senior Brandi Johnson’s layup. Manca answered with a two-point field goal. Then junior Makenzie Peterson hit a jump shot for two and closed the gap 17-11.

“I feel like we’re improving a lot as a team,” Manca said. “We have a lot of players who haven’t played for a long time.”

Manca sat out most of the fall soccer season due to an injury.

After Sultan’s Dani Markwood missed two free throws, sophomore Annalies Schuster caught a tipped pass in the lane for an easy layup. The Falcons kept the game close in the first half, and went into the locker room down 25-20 after Manca made a last-second layup.

Newman made 1-of-2 free throws to open the third quarter, but Sultan went for nine unanswered points.

The Turks pushed their lead to double digits after Courtney Morris’ two free throws, 32-21. South Whidbey wouldn’t score again until Schuster converted a layup with 1:18 left in the third quarter to bring the game within 11 points.

The Turks put the game out of South Whidbey’s reach 50-30, after Markwood made 2-of-2 free throws. Lyna Nichols and Brittany Wood made a late run for the Falcons on consecutive layups. But there wasn’t enough time left in this game, and Sultan (1-4) celebrated its first win of the season.

In its six losses, South Whidbey has been defeated by an average of 19.5 points.

“Even though the scores don’t show it, as we keep playing we’re going to improve and the plays we’re going to get down,” Wood said.

South Whidbey traveled to Seaside, Oregon for the Seaside Tournament on Thursday,

Dec. 16.

The Falcons return to Cascade Conference play on Jan. 4 against Coupeville High School.