Defense has been a strength for Durango girls basketball in head coach Lauren Moran’s two seasons leading the team. Friday night’s game between Durango and Palisade was another example, as the Demons cruised to a 43-29 win.
The Demons pressured the Bulldogs for all 32 minutes. Palisade had no chance to get into an offensive rhythm by running any good sets because Durango was constantly getting into passing lanes and taking the ball the other way.
Durango’s jump-shooting led to its offensive success as junior guard Claire Goodwin, senior guard Tyler Trujillo and even senior forward Ellie White found open looks from outside.
“Defense did lead the way,” Moran said. “Our defense was really strong in the first half and that set us up to have a solid halftime lead even though we weren’t great offensively in either half. Switching up our defenses seemed to be challenging for them to deal with.”
Durango improved to 12-2 overall and 1-0 in the 6A/5A Southwestern League with the win. The Demons have won 11 games in a row since their 1-2 start.
Goodwin and Trujillo each scored 12 points to lead the Demons. Goodwin hit three 3-pointers and Trujillo hit one.
“Tyler has been coming back from injury and you can really tell she’s back to 100%,” Moran said. “She had to get back in the rhythm of playing in the game because she was out for so long. She’s there now and that’s awesome. The other team was really focused on face-guarding Claire and Mariah (Maestas) so that allowed other people like Tyler to get open looks.”
Palisade fell to 7-6 overall and 0-2 in 6A/5A Southwestern League play with the loss. Senior forward Delaney Wright led the Bulldogs with nine points.
The Demons started the first quarter with great defensive intensity and forced four turnovers on the first five Palisade possessions. The Bulldogs couldn’t get any off-ball movement and had to force some tough passes.
Trujillo scored the first five points for FLC with two jump shots but the Demons had an early problem. Her name was Delaney Wright. The Palisade senior forward had a size advantage over Durango senior forward Ellie White. She had two layups off offensive rebounds and another layup through contact to cut Durango’s lead to 9-7 with 2:40 left in the quarter.
Durango continued to shoot its jump shots well from outside the paint. White stepped out and hit a 3-pointer and Durango led 14-7 after the first quarter.
“We talked after the game about we need to be a lot more patient and look for higher percentage shots,” Moran said. “In the first quarter, we were making them (outside shots) but ultimately, we want to keep moving the ball offensively so we get a layup or something else in the paint.”
Palisade continued to struggle on offense to start the second quarter. The Bulldogs couldn’t create any offense with Durango’s pressure. The Demons are great defensively because all five players on the court are similar in size and can move their feet. Therefore, no ball screens can create advantageous matchups with switches. It also didn’t help the Bulldogs’ efforts that they were 1-7 from the free-throw line in the first half.
Goodwin hit two jump shots to put Durango up 19-7 before Palisade scored its first points in the second quarter with four minutes left to make it 19-9. Durango continued to wreck Palisade’s offensive plans with its pressure. Durango forced a turnover under Palisade’s basket and Trujillo hit the layup to put Durango up 24-11 at halftime.
Durango senior guard Mariah Maestas started the third quarter with a nice baseline jumper and Goodwin hit another 3-pointer to put Durango up 29-12 with 6:30 left.
Palisade started the third quarter with a box-and-one defense against Claire Goodwin to try and get her out of her rhythm. It worked but this left Durango’s four other players open on the perimeter. The Bulldogs then switched to a zone defense which created some turnovers for Palisade and led to some fast break layups. Durango led 34-19 after three quarters.
“We need to be better at handling the changing defenses,” Moran said. “Other people were getting open looks because of how they were playing defense … the way that they were playing, we should’ve gotten layups.”
Durango kept its lead and rewarded its reserves with some playing time. Palisade continued to press until the end but could never make it close enough to be a game.
The Demons play at home on Saturday at noon against Grand Junction Central.
bkelly@durangoherald.com