LANGLEY — South Whidbey fell to King’s on Senior Night, 48-33, in girls basketball.

Instead of memories of an upset win, the Falcons were left with lumps and dreams of what might have been.

Adding injury to the defeat, the Falcons lost their star senior forward Jessica Manca for the rest of the season after she suffered a concussion on Friday.

Falcon head coach Andy Davis had high praise for the Knights.

“They’re good,” Davis said. “In my opinion, Number 21 — Storkson — is the best player in the league. Number 30 — Kirton — is probably the second-best.”

The Knights pulled away late in the game. The short-staffed Falcons used an eight-player rotation to push the tempo of their normally half-court offense.

“Usually we take the ball up the court kind of slow,” Manca said. “Being able to push it up, that’s how we were able to get easy scoring opportunities.”

It worked. And for three quarters the Falcons had momentum in their favor.

“We were in control of the game,” Manca said. “If we would’ve worked hard, that was a team we could have potentially beat.”

The Knights averaged 57 points per game against Cascade Conference teams before Friday night. They were limited to 10 in the first quarter.

South Whidbey started with a surge to a 4-0 lead. Falcon senior post Lacy Williams won the tip that led to a turnaround hook by Manca. The Knights’ first possession ended in a travel violation.

King’s immediately used a full-court trap defense on South Whidbey’s inbound play. The Falcons beat the pressure and senior forward Zoey Maeser, starting for the first time this season, drained a 12-foot jump shot.

“Usually that spot and the first points aren’t a shot I hit,” Maeser said. “I finally hit it and I was extremely pleased with it.”

Fouls slowed the first quarter and brought King’s back into the game. The Knights attempted 10 free throws in the first eight minutes, and scored six points from the line.

Manca tied the game at 14-14 with a couple of minutes left before halftime. She put the ball on the floor, dribbled past her defender and rolled in a layup.

Back on defense, she rotated from the post to defend Knights freshman guard Savanna Hanson, which led to a travel violation. With the ball in her hands, Manca launched a three-pointer that missed and led to a Knights fast break.

Manca rushed back to defend. She tried to set her feet but was still moving as Knights senior Karlie Storkson drove for a layup.

The contact knocked Manca to the floor, head first.

“I tried to take the charge, and that didn’t really work out,” Manca said.

“My head hit first before the rest of my body did.”

The previously raucous crowd fell silent, save for Manca’s cries. She said she had a seizure, which led Falcon trainer Jim Christensen to call for an ambulance as a precaution. Play stopped for more than 20 minutes as she was stabilized on a stretcher and taken to Providence Regional Medical Center Everett.

“I was alert, but I couldn’t open my eyes,” Manca said.

The decision to leave was difficult for the four-year player.

“As a senior, I wanted to put it all on the court and do all that I can to win it,” she said. “I felt like I was letting my team down.”

When play resumed, Storkson hit both free throws to give the Knights a 16-14 advantage.

Still reeling from the loss of their teammate, the Falcons committed a pair of turnovers before gaining possession on a jump ball. Falcon senior guard Makenzie Peterson missed a three, but junior guard Ellie Greene grabbed the board and scored a putback.

Knights senior forward Joclyn Kirton scored the final two baskets of the first half to take a 20-16 lead. She scored a game-high 12 points for the Knights, largely due to early foul trouble for Williams, the Falcons’ tallest post player.

“She’s a good post player. She’s really athletic,” Williams said of Kirton.

“I was just trying to make sure I had a good stance and stand straight up and not get the fifth foul.”

King’s kept and extended its lead in the third quarter.

Storkson’s previously cold outside shooting heated up, and the Lady Knight senior made both of her three-pointers in the second half for 12 points.

Storkson’s second three gave the Lady Knights a 10-point lead at 34-24. It was the first play of the fourth quarter. The Knights outscored the Falcons 13-3 in the first four minutes.

Peterson attempted to spark the Falcons, as she scored all eight of her points in the final period.

It wasn’t the only highlight for South Whidbey, though.

“We played with effort, we played with trust in one another,” Davis said.

South Whidbey (5-4 conference; 6-8 overall) was fifth overall in the Cascade Conference before the game against Archbishop Murphy (10-1 conference; 12-4) on Tuesday. At fourth place among 2A teams, South Whidbey had a two-game lead over Sultan (3-8 conference; 5-11).

In order to qualify for the Northwest District 1 playoffs, South Whidbey needs to finish in the top four among 2A teams (only King’s and Coupeville are 1A).

The Falcons looked ahead to a road game against the Granite Falls Tigers (7-5 conference; 11-7) on Friday as a marquee matchup.

The Tigers are in third place, but lost 45-37 to the Falcons in December.

“We go into a big game Friday,” Davis said. “The Granite Falls game is huge for us. We win that game, that puts us in a great position to secure the third spot.”

They’ll play without Manca for only the second time this season — she missed the game against Coupeville for missing practice.

Players said they’re prepared to win long enough to bring Manca back in time for the playoff tournament, and no Falcon was more hopeful than Manca.

“We have a lot of really good players on our team, if they play all together we have the potential to have a really good outcome,” she said.