Heading into this season, it wasn’t a secret the Durango High School girls basketball team would need help scoring the ball, and junior Jaelyn Alston has answered the call.
The Demons had a fantastic 2024-2025 season, finishing 19-7 overall and making it to the 5A state quarterfinals. Once that quarterfinal matchup with Air Academy ended in defeat for the Demons, Durango lost 58% of its scoring and the heart of the team when its four seniors graduated.
Therefore, there was a huge scoring hole for the Demons going into the 2025-2026 season. Claire Goodwin was back as a senior after leading the Demons in scoring last season, but the Demons needed some players to step up.
Enter Alston, who averaged 3.6 points per game off the bench for the Demons last season.
“We had very high expectations for her, and she's definitely met them,” Durango head coach Lauren Moran said. “Even though last year she played behind some senior guards, she has had an impact for us since her freshman year … last year, she was the first off the bench for us and had some really huge games.”
Alston’s production has skyrocketed as a primary creator for the Demons, averaging 11.3 PPG, before Friday’s game against Fruita Monument, good for second on the team behind Goodwin’s 11.5 PPG.
She has always had great size and athleticism since she got on varsity her freshman year, but Alston has shown an improved 3-point shot. She struggled at times in the past two seasons to put the ball on the floor, but she’s improved a lot in that area enough to get to a smooth mid-range jumper, get to the basket and the free-throw line.
At 8-7 overall before the Fruita Monument game, the Demons have needed Alston without a lot of natural scorers on the team other than her and Goodwin. Alston has delivered with fantastic consistency, scoring at least five points in all 15 games so far, and at least 10 points in nine of those 15 games, including the last five. Alston isn’t just a scorer; she’s second on the team in blocks and steals.
“It's going well so far,” Alston said. “We started off rough, but we've started playing more as a team and … my confidence as well has made a jump. I had no confidence last year; I was scared to shoot the ball. My shooting has gone so much better, my 3-point shooting.”
Alston comes from a basketball family, so it’s no surprise she started playing in kindergarten. Her mom used to coach Alston in middle school, and she coached at Ignacio High School. Her dad also played basketball.
She did cross country, track and field and volleyball in middle school, but basketball was Alston’s first love. She definitely felt the change from middle school basketball to high school, with Alston having to slow things down in high school.
After going to Ignacio schools, she transferred to Durango High School for her freshman year. The Demons had a lot of injuries two years ago, giving Alston good experience playing on a Durango team that finished 10-13 overall.
Alston has improved a lot since then. Moran has seen her physical strength improve as she’s spent a lot of time in the weight room. She played on a travel team out of Albuquerque that traveled to Chicago and Las Vegas for tournaments. Alston learned a lot from the coaches, from being a role player on that squad and just playing basketball all summer.
“She's definitely someone who has relationships with everyone on the team,” Moran said. “She's really good at connecting with everyone. I remember in her freshman year, she didn't know anybody, and I was wondering how she’d fit in. It did not take long at all … and she's very positive, even-keeled, and that allows everybody to feel really comfortable with her.”
The Durango coaches are still pushing her to keep improving on her ball handling since they know how much it means to the offense for her to set the table. Alston gets a lot of confidence from the coaches, which is important as she’ll have to be a leader on next year’s squad as a senior.
Alston isn’t sure whether she wants to try to play basketball in college, but she knows she wants to study sonography. Alston also knows what she wants to get out of the rest of the season.
“I really want to get some upsets, playing against Montrose; I really want to beat them,” Alston said. “Personally, I need to play with my team and keep going on the track that I want, just keep getting better.”
bkelly@durangoherald.com
