The Durango High School girls basketball team has waited all season to play on its home court. Unfortunately for the Demons, the baskets weren’t friendly in their home opener Tuesday, as Durango fell 30-14 to Class 3A’s fifth-ranked Pagosa Springs at DHS.
Both offenses struggled to find a flow in the first quarter. Class 4A Durango (1-8) was held scoreless and had trouble getting open looks at the basket unless the Demons were shooting from behind the 3-point line. Luckily for DHS, Pagosa Springs (5-1) wasn’t much better in the first quarter and held a 6-0 lead entering the second quarter.
Durango finally found the basket 55 seconds into the second quarter when Jael Larson hit a short jumper to make it a 6-2 game. As the second quarter wore on, Durango’s offense began to find some rhythm with simple pick-and-rolls, but a lid on the basket kept layups and short jumpers from dropping.
“Our shooting percentage wasn’t very good, but we got some good looks and they were patient on offense, which was good,” DHS head coach Tim Fitzpatrick said.
While the Demons’ offense was stymied, their defense was solid with multiple turnovers and contested almost every shot the Pirates put one up through the first half.
“I was really proud of their defensive intensity, and that’s something going forward that we can hang our hat on,” Fitzpatrick said. “It’s taken us nine game to figure out we can do that, so now they know that.”
Fitzpatrick praised senior Brett Rowland for her intensity on the defensive end, which he said the rest of the team fed off of and used to keep the Pirates at bay in the first half.
The Pirates held an 8-4 lead midway through the second quarter and outscored the Demons 5-0 the final few minutes for a 13-4 lead at halftime.
After a good start to the third quarter – in which the Demons created two turnovers and turned them into four points to cut it to 13-8 – Durango’s offense again stalled and the Demons trailed 18-9 heading to the fourth quarter.
The Pirates took control in the fourth quarter and took advantage when the Durango defense began to take chances in hopes of creating turnovers.
“Our defense was good tonight again, and I think it’s been pretty good all year long, but we’re leaving too many points out there on the floor,” Pagosa Springs head coach Wes Lewis said. “We had a lot of easy bunnies in the first half we didn’t come away with and a few in the second half. To be a state contender, which we want to do this year, we can’t leave points on the floor.”
Tayler Dossey and Hilda Garcia led DHS with four points each.
Morgan Lewis led the Pirates with 11 points.
Durango will be off for the holidays and won’t be back on the court until the team heads to the Aztec tournament Jan. 4-6 in Aztec.
kschneider@durangoherald.com
