Battle Mountain girls fall to No. 5-ranked Durango 55-15
Demons pulled away with monster third quarter
Rex Keep/Courtesy photo
Even though their Saturday afternoon opponent eventually flexed its muscles, there were a lot of positive takeaways for the Battle Mountain girls basketball team after its 55-15 loss to No. 5-ranked Durango. For starters, the Huskies set the tempo out of the gates, jumping out to a 9-3 lead.
“We had them on the ropes in the first quarter,” said head coach Daniel Caballero. “But that’s a well-coached team. Super disciplined, they don’t turn the ball over a lot so they make you stay in a defensive stance for 45 seconds to a minute at a time and work for it.”
Rex Keep/Courtesy photo
Early in the game, the Huskies were attacking the basket and kicking the ball out for some open looks from deep. “As soon as we got away from that, we got a little timid and they took advantage of that,” Caballero admitted.
The Demons evened things up and eventually took a 12-11 advantage going into the first break. At halftime, the lead extended to 25-13, thanks largely to the play of guard Mason Rowland, who came into the contest averaging 13.2 points per game.
“She was super aggressive,” Caballero said of the senior, who led all scorers with 19 points. “It was a tough team to defend.”
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Rex Keep/Courtesy photo
While the Huskies, playing without two players due to injury and/or other commitments, had limited the Demons’ second chances in the first half, in the second, they struggled on the boards.
“As soon as they started getting second and third chances, they were putting them right back up. A team that good, you can’t give them those opportunities, so you have to be able to clean up in one,” Caballero said.
The senior-led Demons, who returned much of the roster that was 17-8 in 2022, powered away in the third quarter, holding the Huskies scoreless. Caballero was pleased to see his squad continue to play hard, no matter what.
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“This team doesn’t have any quit. They continued to battle for rebounds, make the right passes, attack the basket and look for your opportunities to score,” he said. “You can take a lot from a game like this even if it didn’t go our way. Certainly the mentality that there is no quit. A lot of teams could just give up at 20 points down, but this team wants to fight and battle.”
Kiki Hancock led the team in scoring with five points, while Alessandra Caballero dropped in four, Cassidy Kurt pitched in three and Ashley Rodriguez added two. With the loss, the Huskies fell to 3-6 while Durango improved to an impressive 11-1.
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“I think they’ll make a pretty deep run,” Caballero said of Saturday’s opponent. The Huskies have a pair of home games next week, hosting Grand Junction Central on Tuesday and Fruita Monument on Saturday.
