Durango’s girls basketball team had a brutal fourth quarter in Friday’s loss after making a big comeback in the third. In Saturday’s third-place matchup with Rifle, the Demons found themselves in the same position after another big third quarter.
Trailing at halftime for the second consecutive game, Durango clawed back to take the lead. This time, however, the Demons never gave it back as they executed down the stretch and made critical free throws to finish off the Rifle Bears 40-32. The win gave Durango third place in the Colorado High School Activities Association’s Class 4A Southwestern/Western Slope League tournament.
Katrina Chandler had a game-high 24 points and, making 10-for-13 attempts from the foul line and 5-of-6 in the fourth quarter to close the door on Rifle. Taylor Edwards added five points, and Stephanie Basye finished with four.
“It was a good win for us, and it was nice to see the girls finish well down the stretch,” Durango head coach Tim Fitzpatrick said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “We turned up the defense and made free throw when we needed to.”
Durango (15-7) used a 6-0 third quarter run to claim the lead and never gave it back. Rifle hung around and trimmed the lead to four late, but the Demons never blinked this time in the face of pressure and finished the job.
DHS trailed by six late in the first half but cut the lead to two at halftime after Chandler scored four points in the half’s final six seconds. The late second quarter push gave the Demons much needed momentum that carried into the next half. The big run to start third quarter started with Edwards and Basye baskets.
“We’re at our best when Steph (Basye) and Taylor Edwards are aggressive,” Fitzpatrick said. “They weren’t settling for bad shots, got some easy scores and played good defense.”
When they got the lead, Chandler took over.
She was able to finish at the rim for easy buckets and buried the Bears (17-6) at the foul line with clutch makes down the stretch.
Palisade beat Montrose 35-33 in overtime to take the district crown. Durango had Palisade on the ropes in Friday’s semifinal up eight in the second half but couldn’t close the deal.
“We were an inch away from winning that game, but sometimes that inch is so tough to get,” Fitzpatrick said. “It’s a learning experience and lucky for us we’ll have a lot of the girls back next time.”
Durango has to wait until the seeds are announced Sunday to learn its fate in the 32-team CHSAA 4A Girls Basketball State Tournament.
jfries@durangoherald.com
