By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
Raton hosted the Estancia Lady Bears and Bears for the first district game of the season in Tiger Gym Thursday January 22, 2026, in Tiger Gym while the JV boys played down a Raton Intermediate School and were the only Raton team to mark the win column.
The JV Girls took the floor at Tiger Gym first Thursday afternoon and trailed in the first half of play going into the locker room down by eight 22-14. Second half action saw the Lady Tigers battle back from a 10 point deficit and after three quarters were tied at 32. The fourth quarter went back and forth and had a tie game at 35 and 39. Estancia pulled out in front with the Lady Tigers hot on the trail when the final buzzer sounded it was a 47-46 win for Estancia.
Over at RIS the JV boys took the early lead and really never looked back as they held a 33-7 lead at halftime and finished off the game with the win 53-27.
The varsity girls took to the court next and quickly found themselves behind as Estancia held them to only two points in the first and five point for the first half of play. Raton managed another four in the third and went scoreless in the fourth to finish out the district game 46-9.
In the boy’s varsity game Raton took the early lead with the help of three 3-pointers by Logan Elliott. Unfortunately the team wasn’t as hot at the free throw line going eight of 18 free throws in the first quarter. At halftime Raton lead the game 42-33 after a 12 point lead in the second quarter.
Second half action saw the Bears work back from the deficit and tie the game at 51 early in the fourth quarter before going ahead and holding that lead the rest of the game. Lorenzo Anaya fouled out early in the fourth quarter followed by Harlem Coley a bit later that loss hurt the Tigers as both boys were Raton’s primary ball handlers and made their mark defensively. At the final buzzer Estancia had an 11 point lead and marked the win column with a 71-60 final score.
JV Girls
Estancia 9 13 10 15 47
Raton 4 10 18 14 46
JV Boys
Estancia 27
Raton 53
Varsity Girls
Estancia 18 14 12 2 46
Raton 2 3 4 0 9
Estancia High Point
Jhenna Valencia 12 3 of 6 free throws. 3 3-pointers
Lucia Chavez 10 4 of 13 free throws
Free throws 18 of 45 attempts
Raton High Point
Aveah Marquez 3
Mezzo Fanelli 3 3 of 4 free throws
Sariah Vigil 2
Free throws 4 of 10 attempts
Varsity Boys
Estancia 17 16 17 21 71
Raton 27 15 9 9 60
Estancia High Point
Joshua Villafuerte 16 4 of 9 free throws
Matthew Montoya 8
Devon Chavez 14 3 of 8 free throws
Daniel Hernandez 10 2 of 7 free throws
Brayden Encinias 10 2 of 2 free throws
Free Throws 16 of 34 attempts
Raton High Point
Aiden Riley 21 7 of 11 free throws
Logan Elliott 14 2 of 4 free throws 4 3-pointers
Harlem Coley 10 6 of 9 free throws
Chance Walton 10 2 of 6 free throws
Free throws 18 of 31 attempts
