The Durango High School girls basketball team didn’t have to look very far to find its next win after ending the Pueblo County Tournament with an overtime win on Saturday.
The Demons used shutdown defense and got plenty of scoring from numerous players as they won their second consecutive game with a 48-17 win over Mancos on Tuesday night in Mancos.
“Our offense was balanced and we had 10 out of our 11 players score tonight,” said DHS head coach Tim Fitzpatrick. “That was great to see, and our defense was pretty solid. The kids came out and played hard after a long weekend, and to come back on a Tuesday and have a great defensive performance, I was proud of them for that. They’ve got one more before break, so I’m hoping they won’t lose focus and we can finish the week strong.”
Mancos (0-8, 0-1 2A/1A San Juan Basin League) remained winless on the season.
Senior captain Tayler Dossey led the way with 12 points, while freshman Sydney Flores chipped in eight points. Sophomore Kathryn Paul had five points in her first game of the season after she missed much of the opening stretch due to injury; meanwhile, Emma Fitzgerald and Emma Hackett each had five points.
Durango (3-6) will host Telluride at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Durango High School.
The Ignacio High School girls basketball team ended a two-game losing skid as it handled Dove Creek 58-37 Tuesday night at Ignacio High School.
The Bobcats (3-3, 2-0 San Juan Basin League) got off to a slow start, but head coach Justa Whitt said her team was able to wake up in the second half.
“We started off kind of slow and we really didn’t get going until after the first half, that’s when our offense finally kicked in,” Whitt said. “It took them a while to wake up, but we gathered ourselves and pulled it out. It’s not the prettiest win on the planet, but we’ll take it.”
Makayla Howell led the Bobcats in scoring with 19 points, while Jayden Brunson finished with 14 points. Dove Creek (4-4, 0-1 SJBL) was held to just 18 points in the second half. The Bobcats went an impressive 17-of-18 from the charity stripe.
Ignacio will head into Christmas break and will not take the floor again until they travel to Alamosa for a game at 3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 5, at Alamosa High School.
Boys basketball
Boys basketballDurango High School’s boys basketball coach Alan Batiste knew exactly what kind of challenges Tuesday night’s game against Mancos presented.
“Us coaches, we call that a trap game,” Batiste said. “Mancos is a very good team and it’s a tough environment with a packed, small gym, and it was one of those games where we had to fight tooth-and-nail to finally pull away. It was a the definition of a blue-collar game.”
His Demons won their fourth consecutive game with a 48-42 victory over the Bluejays (4-3, 1-0 2A/1A San Juan Basin League), and while it was never pretty, Batiste said his team stepped up when they needed to.
“Mancos is an excellent team and it was a tough gym to play in, and we knew we’d be playing these types of games,” Batiste said. “It was very physical and there was no finesse to this one – except for freshman Anthony Flint.”
The freshman sharpshooter had his breakout performance of the season, as he finished with 20 points and hit six 3-pointers, and added two free throws to seal the win. Flint led the Demons (6-4) in scoring on the night, while sophomore Jordan Woolverton finished with 11 points along with eight rebounds.
The Demons will have one final game before Christmas break when they will host Telluride at 7 p.m. Thursday at Durango High School.
The Ignacio High School boys basketball team finally snapped a four-game losing skid, and it came just in time for the holiday break.
The Bobcats (2-4, 1-1 SJBL) got off to an early lead and never looked back. Head coach Chris Valdez’s side led by as much as 30 points in the second half, and despite letting the Bulldogs (2-5, 0-2 SJBL) back into the game on a 15-0 run in the fourth quarter, the Bobcats kept it together for a 73-55 win.
“It was a pretty nice night all in all,” Valdez said. “We had eight guys in rotation, and that balance we were looking for really helped the kids tonight. We’ve got pretty much all of the guys who were injured or sick back, and so if we can remain healthy and get this consistency of the rotation down, there’s a lot to look forward to after Christmas.”
Dillon Labarthe was Ignacio’s leading scorer with 14 points, and Ocean Hunter, who returned after a two-week injury, chipped in 11 points. Gabe Tucson, a freshman guard, was the second highest scorer for the Bobcats, as he finished with 13 points.
“There’s still some little things to work on, like finishing the game out and not getting outside of our game plan, but it does feel good to get the win,” Valdez said. “This was a game we needed to have before Christmas. We had to get back to playing Ignacio basketball, and we did that tonight.”
Ignacio will host Montezuma-Cortez in the first round of the Southwest Classic on Friday, Jan. 4, at Ignacio High School, with the time to be announced at a later date.
bploen@ durangoherald.com
