If you read the pages of the Valley Record last week, you probably got the idea that the postseason chances for the Mount Si Wildcats girls’ basketball team were very good.

Oh, what a difference a week makes.

After losing to a much improved Mercer Island team Wednesday, the Wildcats looked to rebound against Skyline, but too many turnovers and strong backcourt defense in the second half gave the Spartans a hard-fought 46-40 win at Mount Si High School Friday night.

“I really don’t know … I guess maybe our team just needed to take care of the ball a little bit better. [It was] a six-point game, and that tells you the difference right there,” said a befuddled Mount Si assistant coach Tina Washington.

Nicci Landdeck on the inside and Whitney Beyerlin from the outside each scored 13 points to lead all scorers for Mount Si. Tiffany Johnson and Jordan Hollar each scored 10 points to lead Skyline.

The game started out with Skyline taking the early lead, but Landdeck gave the Wildcats their first lead late in the first quarter at 4-3. The Wildcats took the lead into the second quarter, until the Spartans charged back from six points down to tie. And then Danica Dougherty hit a three-pointer to the Spartans ahead. Kristen Travis’ last-second three-pointer gave Mount Si the lead at the half, 20-19.

The second half became more physical as Allie Cason opened the third quarter with a bucket that put Skyline back into the lead for good.

Beyerlin hit a couple of big threes to keep Mount Si close, but Skyline kept responding to the challenge. Beyerlin hit another three late in the fourth quarter to try to light the Wildcats’ spark, but again Skyline answered and notched the victory.

The game’s officials didn’t help Mount Si’s cause any, as several calls that went in Skyline’s favor were roundly criticized by the Mount Si fans. As it was, though, both teams ended up fairly even on the foul sheet.

Despite the loss, Washington said the Wildcats aren’t beaten just yet.

“[We’ve] got to finish up strong. I see us getting a legitimate chance to go 2-0 next week. We have awesome defensive players, we just need to not hang our heads, let this one go and start off all over again Monday and get Interlake on [Tuesday], and Bellevue on Friday,” she said.

“We’ve got two more to go, we might as well go out strong.”