Playing in Durango on Jan. 27, the Montezuma-Cortez High School girls basketball team received a harsh reminder of why it left the Southwest League in the form of a 60-31 loss.
The defeat was the Lady Panthers’ eighth straight at the hands of the Demons. M-CHS last defeated Durango in 2011.
Lady Panthers head coach John McHenry blamed the loss partially on his team’s defense.
“We had a game plan to focus on defense, and we didn’t’ bring it defensively,” he said. “I didn’t like the first half. We played better defense in the second half, but it wasn’t enough.”
Durango led 14-5 at the end of the first quarter, 29-10 at halftime and 41-22 entering the fourth. The Demons were led in scoring by senior guard Katie Wiegert, who notched a game-high 16 points.
Senior forward Abby Chupp led the Panthers in scoring with seven points. Junior guard Kiselya Plewe scored six, and junior forward Kelsie Ralstin scored five.
While McHenry admitted that his team’s loss was tough, he said that the experience of playing a large school such as Durango will pay dividends down the road.
“Hey, Durango is good,” said the M-CHS head coach. “The positive that we can take from (the loss) is that we broke through their (full-court) press. I appreciate that (Durango head coach) Tim Fitzpatrick didn’t stall out. He continued to give us different looks.”
M-CHS dropped to 5-8 on the season, while Durango improved to 12-2 on the year.
Next up for the Panthers will be a road contest against Alamosa on Jan. 31. Alamosa defeated the Panthers 49-39 earlier this season thanks in large part to 23 points from junior guard Brooke Trujillo.
“We feel like if we can contain Trujillo, we can get a win,” said McHenry. “We could end up playing Alamosa in a pigtail game (at districts) so this upcoming game is important for us.”