Falcon sophomore Cierra Barbary's performance mirrored that of her team's Tuesday night.

Barbary missed back-to-back layups for the Falcons as part of a dismal second quarter for the host team marred by missed shots in the paint, beyond the arc and at the free-throw line.

Barbary made it up to her team, however, making two key plays in overtime for a 16th-seeded Falcon team that played with a renewed vigor in the second half to help close out scrappy visiting 17th-seed Skyview 50-42 in front of a boisterous home crowd in the first round of the 5A state playoffs.

Following a score by senior forward Madison Kulbacki to put the Falcons up 40-37 in overtime, Barbary made a blink-and-miss-it play, stealing Skyview's careless inbounds pass and scoring a quick layup to make it 42-37. Moments later, Barbary stole the ball from a Skyview player following an offensive rebound for the Wolverines. Falcon never looked back.

"Well, I was just having a bad game overall, so I just had to come through at the end and just do it for my team. The team, the student section, our bench and our coaches just pulled it all together for me," she said of her bounceback performance.

Falcon erased a 16-12 halftime deficit with an electric third quarter, with the girls scoring 15 points to Skyview's 7, playing great ball on offense and defense.

Senior leading scorer Caislyn Long made a big 3-pointer to give Falcon its first lead of the evening and went 3 of 3 from the foul line in the quarter. She played great defense, as well, filling passing lanes and intercepting the Wolverines on several occasions. Fellow senior Ashlynn Mustain also found her offensive rhythm in the quarter. Long and Mustain ended up scoring 16 and 10 points, respectively, for Falcon on the evening.

Despite their opponents third-quarter surge, Skyview didn't go away quietly and came back from 6 down in the fourth quarter. Wolverines' shooting guard Leila Estrada nailed a game-tying 3-pointer that quieted a Falcon student section that spent the majority of the game on its feet chanting The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army."

Minutes later, members of the student section implored the entire Falcon crowd to rise to their feet as the Falcons fended off a potential game-winner from Skyview at the end of regulation.

Two of the three points Barbary scored came on the overtime layup but her hustle and contributions on defense throughout the contest were invaluable and embodied the spirit of how her team competes.

"We labeled ourselves as a defensive team," first-year Falcons head coach Chris Wood said. We average only 46 points a game and we struggle finishing around the hoop until it's time to finish around the hoop and that's why you keep girls like Cierra in because they're going to go ahead and get the turnovers and then at the end of the day finish around the hoop."

Falcon will face top-ranked George Washington in the next round of the tournament.