The Durango High School girls basketball team was shorthanded, but it didn’t matter, as the Demons picked up their first win of the season in a 48-17 thrashing of Steamboat Springs at the Brenda Patch Tournament Saturday afternoon in Carbondale.
A few of the Demons’ (1-1) key players missed the game to take the SATs, but the team’s underclassmen filled in more than adequately.
“I’m proud of our kids. We had three players miss today to take the SATs,” DHS head coach Tim Fitzpatrick said. “We had nine (players) today and brought up some younger kids. I had three freshmen out there for a long time today and they handled themselves really well.”
Fitzpatrick said the Demons’ offense improved from Friday’s 55-22 loss to Rifle, but still missed some easy buckets.
Defensively, Durango’s full-court press caused problems for Steamboat Springs (0-3) and created turnovers that helped the offense produce easy opportunities.
Durango had a balanced scoring attack, which was led by sophomore Emma Fitzgerald’s 11 points. Freshman Maddie McManus added nine points, junior Taylor Dossey finished with eight points, and junior Lily Chick and senior Brett Rowland chipped in seven points apiece.
The Demons will be back on the road Tuesday with a trip to Farmington to take on Piedra Vista (4-1).
The Wolverines didn’t make new head coach Josh Kitchen wait for his first win leading the Bayfield girls basketball team.
Bayfield (1-0) went on the road and beat Mancos 47-31 on Saturday. Tymbree Florian, who returned this season year as a junior after sitting out her sophomore season, scored a game-high 14 points. Jordan Lanning had 13, and Savannah Kaufmann added 11 in the Wolverines’ win.
Freshman Madi Hale led the Bluejays (0-2) with 11 points. Junior Emily Cole added seven in the loss.
The Wolverines built a 12-3 lead after one quarter and continued to roll. Lanning scored 11 of her 13 points in the third quarter to push the lead to 41-24 going to the fourth.
Bayfield will host Navajo Prep at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Boys Basketball
Boys BasketballThe Bayfield High School boys basketball team went on a tear and outscored The Pinnacle 30-14 in the second half to force overtime, but the Wolverines couldn’t complete the massive comeback for a victory and fell to the Timberwolves 59-56 in overtime Saturday afternoon at the Herman Schayes Tournament in Denver.
With 4.9 seconds remaining in overtime, the Wolverines went the length of the court and Keyon Prior got a decent look at the basket for a game-tying 3-pointer that barely missed.
“Yes we’re 0-2 for the weekend, but what a difference from last year at this time, and with far less practice to do it,” BHS head coach Jeff Lehnus said. “I’ll be honest, beyond getting two wins, I couldn’t be more pleased. I know we lost twice, but I’m pleased with a lot of things.”
The No. 9 Wolverines fell to No. 3 Kent Denver 52-49 Friday.
Lehnus said the Wolverines did a good job being aggressive on offense and attacking the paint to draw fouls. BHS got to the free-throw line regularly and made 18-of-26 attempts.
Ryan Phelps led the Wolverines with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Prior finished with 15 points and Turner Kennedy added 12.
Bayfield will play Salida on Friday at the Buena Vista Tournament.
kschneider@durangoherald.com
