It all came down to the fourth quarter for the Durango boys and girls basketball teams on the road on Saturday against Palisade. The final eight minutes went two ways as the girls won 36-28 and the boys fell 60-55.
The girls were involved in a tight defensive battle and trailed 21-20 after three quarters. Durango used its defense to pull away in the fourth.
On the other hand, the boys led 45-41 and struggled with turnovers in the final frame as the Bulldogs came back for the win.
“We had a lot of trouble scoring in the half court, pretty much throughout the game, but particularly in the third quarter,” Durango girls basketball head coach Lauren Moran said. “Then we were able to get a couple of steals early on in the fourth and layups and kind of go on a little run right there.”
Durango improved to 16-4 overall and 5-2 in the 6A/5A Southwestern League. Junior guard Claire Goodwin led the Demons with 14 points and senior forward Ellie White added nine points for the Demons.
Palisade fell to 11-8 overall and 3-4 in the 6A/5A Southwestern League. Mady Bavor and Sadie Bunker each had 10 points for the Bulldogs.
The Demons led 9-6 after the first quarter thanks to six points by White. Palisade didn’t change up its defenses as much as in the first matchup and mostly stayed with a 2-3 zone. Moran said Durango did a good job of getting inside against the zone in the first quarter and White finished.
Durango led 18-11 at halftime but only scored two points in the third as Palisade took its 21-20 lead going into the fourth. Moran said the Bulldogs had some size with their post players and they did a good job of finishing around the rim.
In the fourth, all five starters scored as Durango outscored Palisade 16-7 for the win. The Demons turned over the Bulldogs in the fourth and that led to transition opportunities for all the starters. Once Palisade got down, it had to start pressing and playing more aggressive defense, according to Moran. This helped Durango find some open looks.
The Demons have a big matchup on Friday with Montrose at home at 5:30 p.m. Montrose is 17-3 overall and beat Durango 43-38 on Jan. 24 after Durango led 37-29 after three quarters.
“Even though the game was relatively low scoring when we played them before, when we watched the film, we really saw how many defensive breakdowns we had,” Moran said. “One of their players scored 25 points against us, so just cleaning up our defense is going to be huge for our success in that game.”
The Durango boys fell to 13-7 overall and 4-3 in the 6A/5A Southwestern League after their loss. Sophomore guard King Kerlin led the Demons with 16 points. Senior guard Noah Miles added 13 points.
“We had too many turnovers in the second half,” Durango boys basketball head coach Alan Batiste said. “We didn't respond; they gave us a little pressure, full court, we were just rushing and we turned the ball over. They were capitalizing on our turnovers. That was the difference in the game.”
Palisade improved to 10-9 overall and 3-4 in the 6A/5A Southwestern League. Hunter Howard led the Bulldogs with 18 points.
Like the night before against Grand Junction Central, Durango got off to a fast start and led 20-16; Kerlin and Miles combined for 15 of those 20 points. Batiste said all of the Demons’ offense in the first half was coming from transition opportunities. Durango led 31-21 at half.
In the third, the Demons had four turnovers in their first five or six possessions, according to Batiste. This allowed the Bulldogs to cut the lead and score 20 points in the third to trail 45-41.
Howard scored eight of his 18 points off turnovers in the fourth, according to Batiste. To make matters worse, Miles picked up a technical foul which gave Palisade more momentum. Kerlin also started having back spasms and couldn’t finish the fourth quarter.
Miles ended up fouling out for the second consecutive game. Batiste said Miles is picking up a few fouls that he can control and fix in the future.
The Demons play Montrose at home at 7 p.m. on Friday.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
