The Durango High School girls basketball team has shown improvement as the regular season comes to a close, and another example of that was the Demons’ 38-28 win at home on Saturday against Grand Junction.
It was a rough start to 6A/5A Southwestern League for the Demons in 2026, losing four of their first five league games, including a 40-27 road loss at Palisade and a 50-44 road loss at Grand Junction.
However, Durango has responded, winning three of their last four league games. The Demons turned their 13-point road loss to Palisade into a five-point home win on Feb. 7 and turned their six-point road loss into a crucial 10-point home win on Saturday. Durango’s win over Grand Junction was huge for playoff seeding with one game remaining in the regular season.
“It's not that our defense was bad necessarily when we played them before,” Durango girls basketball head coach Lauren Moran said. “But it was a combination of our defensive consistency this time around as well as finishing better in the paint were the difference.”
Durango improved to 11-10 overall and 4-5 in the 6A/5A Southwestern League. The win ensured the Demons won’t have a losing record going into the state playoffs. Senior guard Claire Goodwin led the Demons with 13 points on 3-13 shooting from the field, 1-6 from 3-point range, 6-6 from the free-throw line and six steals. Junior guard Jaelyn Alston added 12 points on 5-14 shooting from the field, 1-3 from the 3-point line and 1-6 from the free-throw line.
Grand Junction dropped to 9-13 overall and 2-7 in the 6A/5A Southwestern League. Hadyn Bunnell led the Tigers with eight points.
In the first quarter, the Tigers had the edge with an 11-8 lead. Moran said her team tried to do some half-court zone traps in the first quarter and had some success. However, the tide of the game changed in the second quarter, when the Demons outscored the Tigers, 7-2, to take a 15-13 lead into halftime.
“After the first quarter, we primarily played man-to-man defense,” Moran said. “We were just really solid in it … and they just really couldn't get anything going offensively.”
The Demons increased their lead to 27-19 after three quarters. One of the big reasons for Durango’s offensive success in the second and third quarters was senior forward Ryne Neiman, who did a great job finishing, scoring six of her nine points in the third quarter. Neiman also finished with a team-high 10 rebounds.
Durango kept its healthy advantage in the fourth. Moran was happy with how the Demons moved the ball and how they outscored Grand Junction in the paint, 20-12. She was happy to see junior guards Gracie Fitzpatrick and Kaleigh Roan score timely buckets for the Demons.
The final game of the regular season for Durango is on Friday at undefeated Montrose. The Red Hawks previously beat the Demons, 43-27, on Jan. 24. Durango currently is 21st in CHSAA’s Selection & Seeding Index, meaning if it finished in that spot, it would hit the road to play the No. 12 seed in the first round. A home game is out of the picture unless there’s a massive upset against Montrose. A loss to Montrose will likely drop the Demons a spot of two in the rankings.
Grand Junction boys basketball dominates Durango
A tough high school basketball season continued for the Durango boys hoops squad with a 46-19 home loss to Grand Junction on Saturday.
The loss dropped Durango to 4-16 overall and 0-9 in the 6A/5A Southwestern League. The Demons have lost 10 consecutive games, with seven of those 10 losses by double digits.
Grand Junction improved to 17-4 overall and 7-2 in the 6A/5A Southwestern League. Grant Lewis led the Tigers with 12 points.
In the first quarter, the Tigers jumped out to a 14-3 lead and led 30-5 at the half. Grand Junction kept that lead with a 35-10 lead going into the fourth.
The Demons go to Montrose on Friday at 7 p.m. It will likely be Durango’s last game of the season. Montrose got the best of Durango with a 43-49 win on Jan. 24.
Ice hockey finishes season with forfeit win
Durango High School’s ice hockey team finished its season with a 1-0 win via forfeit over Pueblo County on Friday.
It was Durango’s first win since Jan. 16, snapping a six-game losing streak. Durango improved to 3-16 overall and stayed at 1-13 in the 4A Mountain League. Pueblo County dropped to 5-14 overall with the loss.
The Demons will lose three seniors, including top scorer Wynn Daniels.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
