It was an unsuccessful road trip for the Durango High School basketball teams last weekend, with both teams going 0-2 at Fruita Monument and at Grand Junction High School.
The Durango girls had offensive lulls throughout the week, with a poor first half dooming their chances of beating Fruita Monument on Friday, resulting in a 55-27 loss, the worst loss the program has had since its 55-25 loss to Air Academy in the state quarterfinals last season.
Fruita Monument improved to 11-7 overall and 4-1 in the 6A/5A Southwestern League after the win. Senior Maggie Meyer and junior Hailee Wagner each had 14 points for the Wildcats.
Durango was led by senior Ryne Neiman’s eight points.
The Demons had a really tough start to the game, going 0-4 in the first quarter and entering the second quarter down 13-0. Durango struggled with turnovers in the first quarter as the Fruita defense mixed in some full-court pressure with some strong half-court defense. Things didn’t get much better in the second quarter as Fruita led 26-4 into halftime.
“It was unusual for us to struggle to score as much as we did in that first half,” Durango girls basketball head coach Lauren Moran said. “We played reasonably good defense in the first half against Fruita, but our turnovers allowed them a bunch of opportunities to score in transition.”
Durango settled in more in the second half, scoring 11 points in the third and 12 points in the fourth with the game out of hand. Moran said her team cleaned up its turnovers, but needs to do a better job of getting off the bus and being ready to play.
On Saturday, the Demons had a much better start and closer game at Grand Junction, but the Tigers got the best of the Demons and won 50-44.
Durango dropped to 8-9 overall and 0-4 in the 6A/5A Southwestern League. Senior guard Claire Goodwin led the team with 15 points.
Grand Junction improved to 8-9 overall and 2-3 in the 6A/5A Southwestern League. Sophomore Kendra Tooker led the Tigers with 11 points.
The Demons got off to a fantastic start and led 14-7 after the first quarter. Then, one of their offensive lulls happened, which allowed the Tigers to outscore the Demons 18-4 in the second quarter and take a 25-18 lead into halftime. Moran said her team missed some high-percentage shots in the second quarter. She also made it clear to her team that, statistically, her team shoots a much higher percentage with at least three passes on each possession.
Grand Junction held its lead in the third and had a 35-27 lead at the start of the fourth. Durango made a comeback effort, but it was too little, too late for the Demons.
Durango comes home to play Grand Junction Central on Friday at 5:30 p.m. and Palisade on Saturday at noon.
“The loss on Saturday was disappointing because we thought that if we played well, we could win,” Moran said. “Moving forward, we really need to get two wins this weekend … everybody is excited to have another opportunity to get a win against Palisade because they're a good team.”
A young Durango High School boys basketball team is learning how tough 6A/5A Southwestern League play can be after two road losses last weekend.
The Demons lost 56-28 at Fruita Monument on Friday and 56-18 at Grand Junction on Saturday. Durango has lost six consecutive games for the first time since the 2021-2022 season.
“We're playing hard, it's just on Saturday, we just hit that wall in the second half,” Durango boys basketball head coach Alan Batiste said. “We’ll just keep playing hard, and now we get into the second half of league. Everybody knows what everybody has for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and there isn’t any hiding, no more … So I like where we're at. The boys have grown every single game.”
In both games, junior guard King Kerlin was the main source of Durango’s offense, scoring 18 of Durango’s 28 points against Fruita and eight of Durango’s 18 points against Grand Junction.
Batiste wasn’t too discouraged by his team’s defense, but didn’t like his team’s transition defense. On offense, he stressed that his young team, without any seniors, still takes some rushed, ill advised shots on offense, despite there not being a shot clock.
At 4-12 overall and 0-5 in the league, the Demons have six games left and begin that home stretch with home games against Grand Junction Central on Friday at 7 p.m. and Palisade on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Batiste thinks if his team can win three of its final six games, Durango will have a shot at the playoffs.
Durango hockey loses home game
The Durango High School hockey team suffered its worst lost in nearly a month on Friday when it lost 6-1 at home to Crested Butte.
Crested Butte scored three goals in the first and second period, and the Demons’ Cooper Linn scored Durango’s only goal in the third.
Durango dropped to 2-14 overall and 1-11 in 4A Mountain League with the loss. The Demons play at home against Battle Mountain on Friday at 7 p.m.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
