Fruita Monument’s Kassidy Fair outrebounded the entire Durango High School girls basketball team by herself Saturday.
Fair’s contribution buoyed a 48-15 Wildcat advantage on the boards to give Fruita Monument a 48-32 Southwestern League win in Durango.
Fair also scored a game-high 22 points on 50-percent shooting from beyond the arc.
“She was on fire (Saturday),” said Durango’s Emily McCue, daughter of Frank and Julie McCue. “It’s hard to stop someone when every one they shoot is going in.”
Fruita Monument built a 23-14 halftime lead by dominating both the defensive and offensive glass, limiting DHS (3-7, 1-1 SWL) to one shot while gaining extra possessions for itself.
“That’s always been one of our weaknesses is rebounding,” said Durango’s Stephanie Basye, daughter of Tanya Basye. “We’ve been working on it, but they were size-wise bigger than us. We need to be stronger.”
The Wildcats’ roster featured six players taller than 5-9, while DHS only has three, two of which are freshmen.
McCue is the third, and the senior led the team with 13 points and seven rebounds; no other Demon had more than one rebound.
“They were just bigger than us,” said DHS head coach Nancy Smith, a former post player at Wake Forest. “If we were in a jumping match with somebody, we were probably going to lose.”
Durango trailed Fruita Monument (6-9, 2-0 SWL) by double-digits for most of the second half.
The Wildcats pulled further away every time DHS could have cut it to single digits, but the Demons continued to battle and make shots until the final whistle.
“As a team, we don’t give up,” Bayse said.
DHS will play its first SWL road game at 5:30 p.m. Friday at Grand Junction.
“I think these girls are really smart; they can get into the right spots,” Smith said. “That’s going to be an ongoing problem. It seems like every time we get a few players back, we lose a few, and that changes your spots.”
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com
