The Durango High School girls basketball team started strong and kept its foot on the gas pedal as it cruised to a 51-12 win over Grand Junction on Saturday at DHS.
“I think we came out with a lot of intensity and set the foundation defensively and kept that up the whole game,” said DHS head coach Tim Fitzpatrick.
The Demons kept Grand Junction from scoring in the first quarter as they built a 15-0 lead, which included a buzzer-beater jump shot from Mason Rowland after Durango forced a late turnover.
By halftime, DHS extended its advantage to 33-1. Riley Campbell and Sydney Flores both hits 3-pointers in the second. Durango continued forcing and Rowland took one steal coast to coast for a basket.
The team’s starters barely played in the second half, but Carter Neiman helped the Demons continue to pull away from the Tigers with six points in the third and six more in the fourth to finish with 12.
“We got a lot of kids on the bench a bunch of quality minutes,” Fizpatrick said, adding that it should help some players get their fitness back, like Neiman who missed the team’s last couple of games.
Rowland scored 15 to lead the Demons while Sydney Flores added 13.
The win was Durango’s sixth consecutive, improving the team’s record to 11-3 overall and 1-0 in the 5A/4A Southwestern League as it begins its conference season.
Grand Junction slid to 1-13, 0-1.
Things will get a little tougher for Durango next week when the team travels to Grand Junction Central (9-1) on Friday and Fruita Monument (11-2) Saturday.
“I’m proud of the kids,” Fitzpatrick said. “They know what’s in front of them.”
The Durango High School boys team had another game that wasn’t decided until the very end on Saturday against Grand Junction.
Walter Stauffer made a pair of baskets late in the paint to tie the game, 45-45. Grand Junction scored next, but it remained a one-basket game with 1:06 left in the game, 47-45.
Grand Junction’s Dillon Chapman, however, pretty much put the game on ice. Chapman stole a pass and turned it into a fast-break bucket to extend the Tigers’ lead to 49-45, forcing DHS to start fouling.
After Grand Junction hit two free throws, Anthony Flint nailed a long 3-pointer to make it a one-basket game again with about 10 seconds left, 51-48.
The Tigers, however, sunk the front end of a 1-and-1 free throw, stole another pass and made one more from the charity stripe to win the contest, 53-48.
The loss was the Durango’s sixth consecutive, dropping the team’s record to 5-8 overall and 0-1 in the SWL. Grand Junction improved to 10-5, 1-0.
“We’re at that part of the season where we need to see a win, no matter how it looks,” said DHS head coach Alan Batiste. “That will solve a lot of our problems.”
The coach said the team’s “effort was there” and that its “energy was better.”
Finishing on top, however, has eluded the team lately.
In the first quarter, Stauffer scored the team’s first five points. Flint then scored three the old-fashioned way and Luke Wesley hit a 3-pointer that gave DHS an 11-6 lead. The Tigers, however, scored the last 10 points of the quarter to lead 16-11 after one.
The Tigers maintained a five-point lead early in the second, 20-15, but Durango went on a 9-0 run with two Stauffer baskets, a 3-pointer from Dylan Bettin and floater from Brady Leimbach.
The teams traded the lead a couple more times in the quarter, but Wesley assisted Zach Haber in the last five seconds to give DHS a 30-29 lead at the break.
Grand Junction came out strong in the third and built a 41-34 advantage, but Jacob Neubert and Harms each hit a field goal and Wesley added a free throw to cut the lead to 41-39 heading into the fourth.
Stauffer scored 15 to lead DHS. Flint added 10, Wesley scored 8, Bettin had five and Neubert scored four.
Chapman scored 14 and Reese Skinner added 13 to lead the Tigers.
Next, the Demons will play at Grand Junction Central (5-7) on Friday and at Fruita Monument (4-7) Saturday.
