Basketball Recap: Lilah Clark's Big Game Can't Quite Lead Deer Valley over Tuba City

Deer Valley played a tough matchup on Friday in which they were outscored in every quarter. 2025 welcomed they with a 53-29 loss courtesy of the Tuba City Warriors. While losing is never fun, the Skyhawks can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Arizona basketball rankings (they are ranked 129th, while the Warriors are ranked 37th).

Deer Valley's defeat came despite a true team effort from the offense, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Lilah Clark, who posted seven points. Another player making a difference was Cecilia Romero, who put up six points.

Leading Tuba City to victory were Eriana Begay and Trece Tsingine. Begay had 16 points and six steals, while Tsingine went 5 of 9 on her way to 11 points in addition to six rebounds and six steals. The dominant performance gave Tsingine a new career-high in steals. The team also got some help courtesy of Nakota Tallman, who posted five points.

This is the second loss in a row for Deer Valley and nudges their season record down to 5-7. As for Tuba City, their win bumped their record up to 9-4.

Deer Valley wasted no time getting back out on the court and has already played their next contest, a 54-47 loss against Pima on the 3rd. As for Tuba City, they also didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next game, a 48-41 defeat against Casteel on the 3rd.