Winners of three consecutive games and fresh off a big weekend, the Durango High School girls basketball team welcomes a struggling rival.
Coming off victories last weekend against Fruita Monument and Grand Junction Central on the road, the Demons (6-9 overall, 4-3 Southwestern League) will host the Montezuma-Cortez Panthers (0-13, 0-5 SWL) on Tuesday night at DHS.
“We had a really good weekend this past weekend. For these girls, it is important we stay focused on whomever comes next,” DHS head coach Nancy Smith said during Monday’s practice. “People tend to forget what happens in the past. It is all about what’s coming next. For us, that’s Cortez.”
Durango’s three-game winning streak began with a 66-39 road win at Montezuma-Cortez on Jan. 30. The Demons led by seven points at halftime and blew out the Panthers in the second half by outscoring them 37-17. Senior Emily McCue led the Demons that night with 20 points on 5-of-11 shooting. Katie Wiegert added 13 points in the win, while her fellow junior Jessi Sigillito scored 12 points.
Smith hopes her team can mimic its second-half performance when the Panthers visit the Demons’ home gym.
“We plan to play our style of basketball to the best of our ability,” she said. “Our hope is to come out and play really good defense, cause some turnovers and work from there.”
The Durango girls currently rank fourth in the SWL standings behind Grand Junction (17-2, 5-1 SWL), Montrose (10-7, 5-2 SWL) and Fruita Monument (9-12, 5-3 SWL).
Durango has an opportunity to climb the SWL standings before the regular season comes to a close this Saturday. After playing the Panthers, the Demons will face Montrose and Grand Junction in a pair of home games this Friday and Saturday.
“We haven’t seen what all we can do yet all season because we have only played one game with all of our players,” Smith said. “We had a taste of it last weekend, but we were still missing a player to illness, and we will be missing one (against Montezuma-Cortez). This weekend, hopefully, we will have everyone back. It has been a great challenge.”
Regardless of how the rest of the week plays out, Smith knows her team will be ready to compete in the league tournament, beginning Feb. 20.
“These girls are competitors. We have really worked hard over the summer to make it possible to be in a good position,” she said. “All nine of the girls are fantastic players. It will be fun to have good competition and see what we are made of.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
Durango Demons
Durango and Montezuma-Cortez will continue their annual home-and-home archrivalry series Tuesday night at Durango High School.
The girls game will be played at 5:30 p.m.
The boys game will be played at 7 p.m.
Breaking from tradition of years past, no tickets will be sold in advance of the game. Instead, tickets will be sold on first-come, first-serve basis, beginning at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in the DHS commons.
CHSAA, Durango Booster Club and Southwestern League passes will be accepted.
Admission prices are 5$ for adults and $4 for senior citizens and students.
Durango Herald
