It’s one of life’s unassailable truths.
Haste makes waste.
And what’s true for the game of life also holds true for the game of basketball. Coach Ralph Padilla hopes that this lesson continues to sink in for the Patagonia High girls basketball team.
The Lobos entered the holiday break with a 7-6 record, but Padilla believes they are capable of much more.
“We’re finally getting to where we should have been at the start of the season,” Padilla said. “We’ve had some really tough losses. I feel that we could be undefeated right now. There were games that we should have won, it’s just the wheels came off at the wrong time.”
A prime example was a 46-40 overtime loss to Willcox, one of the Lobos’ toughest opponents, on Dec. 4. The game came directly after Patagonia had played six games in three days at the Williams Route 66 Holiday Classic – winning three and losing three.
“We got back that Monday and we had to go to Willcox,” Padilla said. “We had a 10-point lead with four minutes left, and the wheels just came completely off. They were just spent. With a little better timing on that one, we would have won.”
Two days later the Lobos were held to 20 points in a 27-20 loss to Desert Christian. “We just could not function,” Padilla said. “Couldn’t cross halfcourt with it.”
The Desert Christian loss left Patagonia with a 4-6 record, but they’ve since won three in a row: 56-24 over San Manuel, 51-25 over Ray and a forfeit victory over San Simon.
“We have finally settled down,” Padilla said. “We were playing this real fast-paced offense, but for no reason.
“When we played San Manuel, we calmed it down, we slowed down the offense and sped up the defense. Things were kind of backwards there for a little bit. Now they see that when we play calm on offense, work the ball around, everybody’s in motion on and off the ball, that’s really helped.”
Sophomore Emma Lewton had 18 points, five rebounds and four steals in the win over San Manuel, Jenny Vasquez and Heaven Day had eight points apiece, and Alexis Fimbres had a team-high eight rebounds.
Lewton followed up with 26 points and four steals in the win over Ray, while Day and Brianna Majalca each pulled down 10 rebounds.
“Emma has come into her own on the defensive end. She’s moving really well, getting a lot of steals, starting a lot of fastbreaks,” Padilla said.
“We still need to work on our offense. Our defense, we’re going to be fine, we should be able to hold every team inside 30 points. It’s just a matter of us scoring above that.”
The Lobos have ten games remaining in the regular season after they return from the holiday break, starting Jan. 4 against unbeaten St. David, the defending region champion.
“St. David will be tough, but there’s nobody that we shouldn’t be able to beat,” Padilla said.
Statistics courtesy of GameChanger
