The Patagonia High basketball teams are probably glad to have flipped the calendar to 2026.
The 2025 portion of their seasons did not go as hoped or expected.
Both the girls and boys teams should welcome a fresh start/reboot on Thursday, Jan. 8, with home games against San Simon.
For the Lobo girls, the hope for the new year is to get and stay healthy. Almost always strapped for numbers, injuries forced them to play much of the early season with six or seven players in uniform. The short handedness not only impacts their maneuverability in games but also limits what they can accomplish in practice.
Their record stands at 4-9 overall after suffering a 41-34 home court loss to Valley Union in their final game prior to the holiday break.
The Lobo boys are 5-10 overall and have lost five in a row. They will be looking to cure their season-long offensive struggles when they return to the court. Only twice in 15 games have they scored more than 45 points. Shooting has been an issue, but a larger concern has been sloppy ball-handling, leaving “lots” of room to improve, said coach Nate Porter.
“When you give the ball to the other team, that causes problems,” Porter said after Patagonia’s 38-36 overtime loss to Valley Union on Dec. 18. “We’re not running what we’re trying to run, not doing what we’re trying to do.”
Both boys and girls teams suffered similar fates in their pre-holiday finale against Valley Union, jumping out to early leads but unable to sustain them.
The girls raced to a 12-4 first-quarter lead, with senior guard Emma Lewton scoring eight of the 12 points. But Valley Union responded with a 13-2 run, took a 19-18 lead at the half and never trailed from that point.
Lewton has continued to be a mainstay for the Lobos even while playing through a knee injury of her own. She finished with 18 points and Brianna Majalca added 10, but the Lobos were badly out-rebounded and struggled to score from outside the paint.
The Patagonia boys appeared well on their way to victory in their game with Valley Union, scoring the game’s first seven points and holding the visitors scoreless for the first six minutes. Their lead was 22-9 at the half and grew to 15 on Gus Varela’s putback in the opening minute of the third quarter, but then the Lobos went ice cold while simultaneously getting careless with the basketball.
They scored just one more point in the third quarter on a free throw by Alex Ruskowitz, and their lead shrunk to 25-22.
Baskets by Kannon Shore and Gavin Arbizo to open the fourth quarter put the Lobos back up by seven, but Valley Union scored the next eight points to take its first lead at 30-29. The lead changed hands twice before a basket by Shore tied it up at 34. A succession of turnovers and a steal by Shore gave the Lobos a chance to win the game on their last possession, but Varela’s jumper rimmed out.
Patagonia led once in overtime—36-35 on a driving shot by Diego Padilla—but that was their only basket in the extra period as careless ball-handling continued to limit their opportunities.
Zion Moore scored on an inside drive and Myles Richardson added a free throw to put Valley Union up by two, and Patagonia’s last scoring opportunity ended with another turnover.
Shore finished with 15 points to lead all scorers, and Varela added seven. Valley Union made four three-point baskets to three for Patagonia and outscored the Lobos 8-3 from the free-throw line.
“We did not play well,” Porter said. “Really lazy passes. We worked on that all day yesterday, and it did not come to fruition on the basketball court. It is what it is, you go fight another day.”