The Durango High School girls basketball team had a chance to start league play at 2-0, but a tough second half against Palisade on Saturday meant the Demons started league play at 1-1.
After a dominating Grand Junction Central 43-7 on Friday, the Demons only trailed by two at halftime against a Palisade team that was 8-4 at the time. However, Durango only scored eight points in the second half as Palisade pulled away for a convincing 40-27 win.
“It was a really disappointing loss because it's one that we could have won,” Durango girls basketball head coach Lauren Moran said. “But after the game, we told the girls that they did everything we asked them to do. We just couldn't put the ball in the basket.”
Durango dropped to 7-6 overall and 0-2 in the 6A/5A Southwestern League after the loss. Palisade improved to 9-4 overall and 2-0 in the 6A/5A Southwestern League after the win.
Junior guard Jaelyn Alston led the Demons with 13 points in defeat as the only Durango player in double-figures. Senior Sadie Bunker led the Bulldogs with 12 points in the win.
Palisade started out with an 11-9 lead after the first quarter, and the Bulldogs led 21-19 at the half. Durango struggled all game with its 2-pointers, finishing 14%. However, the Demons stayed in it with their first-half 3-point shooting.
The Bulldogs switched up their second-half defense and went to a triangle-and-two defense, which means two players face-guard the opponent’s best two players, and the rest of the defense was in a triangle defense. Therefore, Alston and Durango senior guard Claire Goodwin were face-guarded, and it worked, with Goodwin going scoreless in the second half and Alston finishing with five points in the second half.
Palisade increased its lead to 28-23 after three quarters, and the Bulldogs outscored the Demons 12-4 in the fourth.
Even with the unique defense, Moran was still happy with the looks her team got, but they missed shots close to the basket they usually make. She was happy with how her team played across the board, except for shooting.
“Their biggest strength is they really like to push the ball up the court in transition,” Moran said about Palisade. “So we really emphasized that we needed to get back on defense and always have a safety. They got a few points in transition, but overall we did a good job of limiting them in that way. But it's hard to win if you only score however many points we scored.”
The day before was a much better result for the Demons at a struggling Grand Junction Central game with a dominant 43-7 victory. It couldn’t have started better for the Demons with a 19-0 first quarter and Durango led 24-6 at the half. Durango then outscored Grand Junction Central 17-0 in the third quarter for a 41-6 lead.
Alston had a fantastic game, leading the Demons with 16 points, including 12 points in the first quarter. Moran complimented Alston on her three-level scoring and ability to find her teammates.
Moran was happy with how her defense made the Warriors uncomfortable with Durango’s full-court press.
“We came out really strong,” Moran said. “We tried to emphasize having a lot of intensity and energy, given that we had a long bus ride. We came out, and we played quite well in the first half … We kind of had a lull in the second quarter … but we regrouped at halftime.”
The Demons hit the road to play at Montezuma-Cortez on Thursday at 6 p.m. before returning home on Saturday to play Montrose at 1 p.m.
Durango boys basketball struggles on the road to begin league play
The Durango boys basketball team lost by double-digits in two road games last week to begin league play, losing 53-44 to Grand Junction Central on Friday and 69-51 on Saturday to Palisade.
After the two losses, the Demons dropped to 4-8 overall and 0-2 in the 6A/5A Southwestern League.
Grand Junction Central improved to 5-8 overall and 1-1 in the 6A/5A Southwestern League. Palisade improved to 12-1 overall and 1-1 in the 6A/5A Southwestern League after the win.
The Warriors got off to a 13-10 lead after the first quarter, but the Demons responded and took a 22-20 lead into halftime. Grand Junction Central battled back to tie the game at 38 after three quarters, before outscoring Durango 15-6 in the fourth.
Adam Tabora led the Warriors with 21 points. No individual stats were available for the Demons.
Against Palisade, Durango fell in a 22-11 hole after the first quarter and trailed 37-21 at the half. Palisade increased its lead to 53-35 after three quarters.
Jax Bavor led the Bulldogs with 19 points. Junior Boaz Zastrocky led the Demons with 13 points.
Durango will play at undefeated Montezuma-Cortez on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. before traveling home to play Montrose at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Demons hockey splits series with Caprock Academy
The Durango hockey team split its series with Caprock Academy at home last week, winning 7-5 on Friday and losing 5-3 on Saturday.
Durango moved to 2-11 overall and 1-8 in the 4A Mountain League; Caprock Academy moved to 4-8-1 overall and 4-6-1 in the 4A Mountain League.
In Game 1, Caprock Academy led 1-0 after the first period and 2-1 after the second period. Durango’s offense exploded in the third quarter, outscoring the Eagles 6-3 for the win. Freshman Milo Martin led the Demons with two goals and an assist. Sophomore Shea Morrissey had 29 saves for Durango.
Caprock Academy once again took a 1-0 lead after the first period of Game 2, and the game was tied 3-3 after the second period. Two unanswered goals in the third period sealed the win for the Eagles.
Juniors Ian Fowler, Cooper Linn and senior Wynn Daniels each scored a goal for the Demons, while Morrissey had 36 saves for the Demons.
Durango plays at home against Summit on Friday at 7 p.m. and on Saturday at 12:30 p.m.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
