The Durango High School girls basketball team went cold at the wrong time in Friday’s Colorado High School Activities Association Class 4A Southwestern/Western Slope League Tournament semifinal.
After rallying to take the lead with a big third quarter, the Demons (14-7) went scoreless for nearly all of the fourth in a 36-30 loss to Palisade. Shilo Gillen led the Demons again with nine points. Stephanie Basye had eight points while Sienna Johnson and Katrina Chandler added six.
“We made some shots in the third quarter, but we started settling for jumpers and quit taking the ball to the basket,” Durango head coach Tim Fitzpatrick said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “They executed and did some things on defense that gave us a hard time, but we need to find a way to respond in those situations.”
Palisade sent defensive bodies at Chandler and often forced the other Demons to carry the offensive load, and they did for awhile.
Trailing by five after a tightly played opening half, Durango matched its first half output with a 14-point third quarter to take a 28-24 lead heading into the fourth. Suddenly, however, the offensive clinic turned into a messy struggle.
Turnovers and missed shots replaced the offensive success, and the lead vanished in a hurry. The Demons didn’t make a field goal in the final eight minutes, and Palisade (20-2) capitalized at the other end. Chandler’s two free throws in the final seconds of the game were the team’s only points in the fourth quarter.
With the win over Delta in the opening round, Durango qualified for the CHSAA 4A Girls Basketball State Tournament. The district results play a large role in the tournament seeding and, with the loss, Durango will most likely face a much tougher first round opponent than they would have if they’d made it to the final.
“Nobody wants to be a seven or eight seed,” Fitzpatrick said. “We still have a game to play before all of that is determined, so that’s where our focus is now.”
Durango will play Rifle at 10 a.m. Saturday in the third-place game after Montrose beat the Bears 45-17 in the other semifinal matchup.
jfries@durangoherald.com
