With the Friends University women’s basketball team coasting through conference on a 10 game winning streak, the women seemed almost unstoppable. However, last week proved to be a disappointing stretch in their season as the Falcons dropped both of their games to No. 1 ranked Tabor, 50-55, and No. 2 ranked Sterling, 60-64.

Head coach Gayla Soyez attributed part of the loss to “wanting something so bad that you can’t perform to your expectations.” She felt the team might have tried too hard instead of just going out and playing their game.

Soyez felt that the main difference between the team’s last two consecutive losses and the games the team had previously been winning was defensive stops. In prior games the Falcons have been able to step up and make stops at crucial moments toward the end of games, but that didn’t happen for the team against Tabor.

The team shot 27 percent from the field, 16 percent from the three point range, 19 of 30 from the free throw line and had 20 turnovers. These statistics aren’t the kind of numbers that the team normally produces.

With the Tabor game past them Soyez said that her team responded well after the loss transitioning into the Sterling game. “I saw a team that I saw earlier in the year; they played with a toughness.”

“We had a chance to win against Sterling, but we didn’t get it done,” Soyez said. Sterling had 33 free throws compared to Friends' 13, which hindered the team.

Even though the Falcons fell to the Sterling Warriors, it was a good game for the team. Several upperclassmen, Staci Bell, Kelsi Brown and Kristen Welk, stepped up and led the team. Although the upperclassmen were a strong contributing factor, many of Soyez’s bench players came in and were able to produce points.

Overall the mood of the team wasn’t a negative one. Although the losses dropped them to third in conference as well as dropping their national ranking, they know there is still a lot of conference play left.

The Falcons know that there are a lot of other teams in the conference that are good contenders, which they will be facing in the coming weeks. Soyez plans to have the team work on their defense, which seemed to hurt them recently.