On December 6, 2025, the Highland girls’ basketball team battled the Cottonwood Colts in an intense battle to win one of their region games. Down by five at the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Rams were in striking distance of getting an important road win.
But as the clock counted down, the players checked out, and Highland fell by 20.
Although the Rams have clearly improved compared to a year ago, the next step for this team is learning how to win in the fourth quarter – a quarter where they were usually out of the game a year ago.
The Rams’ saw their season end on the road in the first round of the playoffs to Uintah. But getting to the playoffs was the first step in a rebuild. If the Rams can win a few of the games that are close in the fourth quarter next year, they will have a better playoff seed and, likely, more playoff success.
Vada Foster, a sophomore and starter since her freshman year, believes that their struggles are rooted in both mental and physical hindrances.
“Conditioning could help us because we get tired by the fourth quarter,” Foster said. “Also, keeping the energy high by cheering on one another.”
Conditioning can benefit any sports team, but the girls’ varsity team only plays seven, and sometime eight, athletes throughout an entire game, so physical and mental fatigue is common in the fourth quarter.
Head coach Josh Archuleta expresses to the girls that this is when basketball becomes a “situational” game, meaning that despite the regular jobs of playing offense and defense, remembering plays, etc., the team must also be aware of the high-pressure scenarios that are apparent in the fourth quarter.
This shows how anxiety can also act as a mental block for the girls on the Highland squad. Archuleta addresses that some of their top scorers will stop shooting in the fourth quarter, completely because of fear — fear of messing up, fear of embarrassment, fear of letting the team down, or just the general fear of failure.
But Archuleta isn’t deterred — he believes that failure is the most important pathway for growth, both in basketball and in life.
“Your comfortability is going to be something that will limit you,” Archuleta said.
Or in other words, making mistakes and getting outside of one’s comfort zone can lead to personal growth, boosting confidence, and resilience which can aid someone for the rest of their life.
Despite their tendency to collapse in the fourth quarter, the team has shown much improvement in their record and team culture this season.
In previous years, the team has had a negative ambiance about them, according to Foster and Maggie Hartle, especially regarding the number of games they were losing and their poor team environment. Players described the previous culture as negative and uncommitted. Wanting to change the legacy of girls’ basketball at Highland, this year’s athletes and coaches began to change the trajectory.
Two team members who have contributed to this growth are Hartle and Meredith Kimball.
As the only two seniors on the team, Hartle and Kimball found it difficult to melt into their leadership positions. Having to be a leading role model for the younger girls and still maintain their own skill level can be a struggle for upperclassmen playing any sport. Wanting to “leave the team better than they found it,” as coach Archuleta says, the duo decided to step into their leadership positions, in spite of the difficulty that comes with rebuilding a team’s culture.
Constantly asking their coaches what they could improve on the court, and trying their hardest in practice and games, Kimball and Hartle became mentors for the younger girls and contributed to creating a positive team culture. The two initiate team-bonding activities like getting food after games and Secret Sister, which helped bring the team together.
“I think they handed something good to next years seniors, that they can take care of and hopefully keep it going from here,” Archuleta said. “I am definitely grateful for those two.”
Not only have the players impacted the team, but the coaching staff has also assisted in the team culture change and their success this season.
Foster believes that from the beginning of the season to now, the coaches have gradually pushed the team harder through more strenuous practices, constructive criticism, always expecting discipline, and holding them accountable for the decisions they make.
These are all aspects of what loving coaches do when they care about a team’s improvement and success. The coaching staff understood that team improvement would be very difficult because of the hardship they faced in previous years. Yet they took advantage of the amazing girls on the team and decided to get to work instead of focusing on their struggles in the past.
“I think the coaches cared last year, but I feel like this year they really want us to be successful,” Hartle said.
The girls can see the hard work that the coaches are putting in and it is definitely paying off.
Just this year, the girls’ basketball team has seen a remarkable turnaround. Last season, the team suffered zero wins and 23 losses. And the year before that, only one win. This season the team ended with a 12-11 record which completely trumps their lack of success in the past years.
The group has had endless Hudl (a film studying system) review sessions and are constantly trying new playing strategies over and over again until they find the ones that they feel comfortable with. Also committing to at home film study and “hooping” outside of practice, this team had definitely proved that they are working their way up to being top competitors in future years.
Archuleta believes that through basketball athletes can learn how to become better people in their futures, long after high school ends. Becoming a better teammate, learning how to make mistakes, and being a leader in all walks of life are just some examples of that.
Archuletta believes that basketball isn’t just about learning how to dribble and shoot a ball into a net. It’s about growth and the life-long memories that these girls will keep sacred as they go through their lives.
“Those are the times they will remember more than even the games that they played,” Archuleta said. “That’s what they are going to value when they look back on it.”
