WLOS ALAMOS hen coach Bobby Romero looks down his bench during the District 2-4A season, he saw what amounted to the Pojoaque Valley girls basketball program for the 2025-26 season — 14 players strong. And that’s on a good day.
For the longest time, basketball and Pojoaque Valley seemed to be an ideal fit. The program owns three state titles and five appearances in the state championship game, but the past several years has seen the program shrink.
So much so that Pojoaque canceled most of its junior varsity games over the past month because of injuries. With so many of the girls playing varsity and junior varsity games, Romero said he didn’t want to put some of his Elkettes in a position of balancing playing time for those “swing” players.
Pojoaque is 16-7 overall and 4-2 in 2-4A. Romero said seeing the program in its current state is hard to take.
“It’s disheartening,” Romero said.
“The numbers have dwindled over the last few years, even when [former head coach Cindy Roybal] was here. It seems like kids aren’t playing as many sports.”
Even more troubling is the Elkettes sit in second place in the district but could see themselves out of the Class 4A State Tournament. District leader Española Valley is struggling to gain respect in the New Mexico Overtime Coaches poll and the MaxPreps.com rankings.
The Sundevils were 12th in the last week’s coaches poll and are 17th in MaxPreps.com’s algorithm, and both are crucial in the selection and seeding of teams for the state tournament.
If Española wins the district, it will need to be seeded before Pojoaque can be considered, and that could leave the Elkettes on the outside looking in for March. The Sundevils’ loss to Los Alamos on Friday night tightened the noose even more on the Elkettes’ playoff chances.
“We kinda have to rely on the district tournament to try and get in,” Romero said. “I was kinda rooting for [the Sundevils Friday night], I ain’t gonna lie.”
As for his roster issues, Romero said there were extenuating circumstances. He said a host of eighth graders who played on Pojoaque’s C-team in volleyball opted to play on the club circuit while also trying to play basketball, which led to them not playing for Romero. Then, injuries at both the junior varsity and varsity level since the third week of the season took a toll.
Perhaps the backbreaker was the
absence of junior forward Gerrianna Romero, who has not played since suffering a hip pointer in mid-January and taken away a key offensive weapon. Romero, who is not related to coach Romero, said she tried to play through it, but it was clear the injury affected her.
The hope is she will be ready for the district or state tournaments. “It’s been rough just having to sit out practices and be on the sidelines,” Gerrianna Romero said.
The junior’s absence showed at times, especially against quality opponents like Española and Los Alamos. The Elkettes have not broken the 33-point barrier against either team, resulting in a 1-2 record that includes a sweep by the Sundevils. Coach Romero said his team is effective at running the offense, but shots are just not falling.
“The structure will get you shots,” coach Romero said. “It’s just that, when we played Española, we had five opportunities to either tie the game or win it at the end, and they just didn’t fall. But that’s OK. It’s basketball, right?”
The bright light amid the merry-go-round of player availability is junior guard Monique Arrietta. Already blessed with three years of varsity experience, Bobby Romero said she stepped up as a leader and improved her basketball IQ.
“We talked with Mo about situations where we want you to take that shot, but then there are situations where we don’t,” coach Romero said. “The old Mo would go into panic mode and start chucking stuff up to Jesus, hoping it’s going to go in. This Mo, she trusts the structure will keep us in the game.”
Arrietta’s maturity showed against Los Alamos on Feb. 4 as she scored seven of her 11 points during a crucial 8-0 scoring run in the third quarter. That turned a 12-8 lead into a 20-8 margin in a 23-13 win. Her 3-pointer started the run and her transition basket capped it. She’d rather be a distributor of the ball than the one shouldering the scoring load.
“I like getting my teammates open, get them to score and me be there on the defense end, personally,” Arrietta said. “I know I’m also on the offensive end, but I’d rather let my teammates score.”
The coach said the upside to the rash of injuries has been younger players getting playing time. Romero said they are learning how to play at the varsity level sooner than he wanted, but they are taking on the task well. Bobby Romero said he is encouraged that when the Elkettes finally get healthy, the experience the younger players gained will pay off.
“I think what’s going to happen is that we’re going to have girls that have a little more confidence,” the coach said. “And you’re going to have situations where, earlier in the year, they would have passed up are going to be taken now.”
If Pojoaque caught a break in either game against Española, it would be looking at a potential top-eight seed based on a No. 9 ranking in the latest MaxPreps. com rankings and a No. 10 spot in the coaches poll. However, Pojoaque is now at the mercy of Española’s place in the 16-team pecking order.
The best-case scenario is that Pojoaque sneaks in as a bottom four seed. Winning the district tournament would give the Elkettes an automatic bid into the postseason tournament.
Bobby Romero said the district is suffering from the perception that it is weak, and that could hurt his team when seeding and selection takes place March 1.
“People are like, ‘Oh, Española is not that good this year,’ ” coach Romero said. “It doesn’t matter if they’re good or not; it’s a district game, and if you don’t show up to play, they’ll beat you.”
Despite the latest setback, Bobby Romero still has confidence his team is still in control of its destiny. Gerrianna Romero could be back for the district tournament, but even if she misses the rest of the season, the coach believes the state tournament is in Pojoaque’s future.
“I know we’re gonna compete fairly well if we can just get our foot in the door,” Bobby Romero said.
It just seems more toes are getting stubbed trying to force that door open.