The Durant Lady Lions suffered through perhaps their worst shooting performance of the year, yet still had a chance to win in the third-place game of the Sherman Holiday Invitational Wednesday afternoon at Austin College in Sherman, Texas.

Both the the Lady Lions and the Sherman Lady Bearcats simply could not buy a basket in the second and third periods of the game, and the lack of scoring was too much for the girls to overcome, as they fell 31-28.

“We couldn’t make a shot,” said head coach Barry Hudson. “We were nine out of 53 from the field and 7 for 17 from the line. When you shoot 16 percent, that’s not going to win many ball games.”

After Durant battled to a 9-7 first quarter deficit, the bottom of the net became next to impossible for both teams to find, as they combined for only nine points over the next two quarters.

The Lady Bearcats made one bucket and one free throw in the second, while the Lady Lions could only muster a couple of free throws, and the teams went into the half with Sherman up by one, 12-11.

The third was just as tough for the two teams, with Durant being shut out, and Sherman adding just five points to their total, taking a 16-11 lead into the fourth.

“We ran every set we had, we ran 13 girls in and out,” Hudson said. “We just couldn’t buy a bucket.”

The Lady Lions came to life in the fourth after they fell behind by nine, 22-13, with about six minutes left in the contest, but made an extended run over the last few minutes to make the game close.

Getting to the line appeared to help the two teams’ shooting, as the lid finally came off the basket for both.

Sherman’s Jada Bennett made two free throws and a couple of 10-foot jump shots to maintain the Lady Bearcats lead at nine, 27-18, before Durant began to close the gap.

Durant’s Kaley Hughes made a lay-up and Taylor Richards made one of two from the line with 3:45 left to cut the lead to six, and both teams traded free throws until Durant’s Hailey Elrod drained a three from the corner to close the margin to only three.

“Sherman never did get a large lead on us,” Hudson said. “We did hang around because we did play good defense. We’ve been playing good defense for the last month, but we’ve got to be able to put the ball in the hole.

“Our defense kept us in it for as long as it could, but when it comes down to it we’ve got to make a few shots. If we go 11 for 53 we win the game.”

Elrod led the ladies with six points, while Richards and Lyndi Barrett had five apiece.