The Durango High School girls basketball team beat a trio of New Mexico clubs to win the Rumble in the Jungle at Aztec High School over the weekend.
The Demons beat Laguna Acoma 54-26 in the first round Thursday and Cuba 52-24 in the semifinals Friday.
In the finals on Saturday, Durango squared off with a 6-2 Thoreau team. In the fourth quarter, the Demons buckled down on defense while Mason Rowland scored 15 of her 29 points in the frame to help DHS finish on top, 49-33.
“The team really picked up the defensive intensity in the fourth quarter,” said head coach Tim Fitzpatrick. “The team showed a lot of mental and physical toughness when it needed to.”
The Demons finished the game with 20 steals.
Sydney Flores grabbed 11 rebounds, scored nine points and had five steals in the win.
Riley Campbell scored six, had five rebounds and four steals. Carter Nieman had five rebounds, two steals and two points.
Mia Whistler scored two points and had two rebounds. Katelyn Sheppard had a pair of steals, and Ellie White had an assist and two rebounds.
In addition to going 8 for 9 from the free-throw line and scoring a game-high 29 points, Rowland stole the ball seven times and was named the MVP of the tournament.
Rowland also scored 17 points against Cuba and 22 against Laguna Acoma.
Flores joined her on the all-tournament team. She had eight points and eight rebounds against Cuba and 13 points and eight rebounds against Laguna Acoma.
Shepard and Campbell also scored in the double digits at the tournament, with 13 and 11 points, respectively, against Cuba.
The Demons will now head into 8-3 overall after winning eight of their last nine games. The team’s next game will be at 7 p.m. Jan. 8 against Bloomfield at DHS.
