When opponents prepare for the Durango High School girls basketball team, Katrina Chandler is a player that needs to be stopped. However, after Tuesday night’s performance against previously unbeaten Piedra Vista, teams might need to change their strategy to stop what has become Durango’s big three.
Chandler had 17 points to lead the Demons (3-0), but interior players Stephanie Basye and Taylor Edwards were the key in Durango’s 46-35 win.
Basye pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds and poured in nine points, while Edwards had seven of her 14 points in the fourth quarter to cap off the win. Overall, the three scored 40 of the team’s 46 points.
“Katrina’s going to get most of the attention, but Stephanie and Taylor are really stepping up and coming into their own,” Demons head coach Tim Fitzpatrick said. “Now, as you saw in this game, we’re a bit more dynamic in what we can do with those girls increasing their level of play.”
Basye was a force inside against some tough competition from the Panthers. She had nine rebounds in a very tight first half in which the largest lead was five points.
Basye’s buzzer-beater putback to end the half gave Durango a four-point lead heading to halftime. After the break, she scored the first two baskets of the third quarter to stretch a lead they would never relinquish.
“They had some really quality post players, good players, so we had to be ready,” Basye said. “I think overall we’re just taking it to the next level. We’re going at each other hard in practice every day and it’s starting to pay off. They beat us by two last year, so we wanted this.”
The Demons’ 7-0 third-quarter run gave them the largest lead of the game, but the Panthers fought back to cut the deficit to two heading into the fourth quarter.
However, Chandler and Edwards came alive in the final quarter to score 15 of the team’s 18 points and seal the win.
“The key for me was to just play a bit smarter because I got in foul trouble early,” Edwards said. “They have some really good players, but Stephanie really stepped up and took them on. That made it easier for me down the stretch. I got out of my own head, stopped thinking too much, and just got into the right spots to help the team.”
Kristi Lee Bennie and Naomi Smith had eight points to lead Piedra Vista (5-1).
“It was a heck of a game, and they just made more shots around the basket than we did,” Panthers head coach Joe Reed said. “We like to come up here because it’s always a good game and the competition will help us down the road. It was like that again (Tuesday).”
Durango will head to the Pueblo County on Thursday and is scheduled to play at 6:30 p.m. against Pueblo West. The Demons are the two-time defending Lady Hornet Holiday Tournament champions and will look to make it three in a row.
jfries@durangoherald.com
