DURANT — It took an extra quarter of basketball before the Durant Lady Lions (2-4) had the Ardmore Lady Tigers licking their wounds, and after all the fur had settled, the Lady Lions stood proud with a 49-43 victory.

The big cat battle started with two consecutive 3-pointers from Ardmore. The Lady Lions struggled at first, missing shots and layups. Then Kaylie Baxter got the Durant offense primed by taking two trips to the free throw line and made all of her shots, then Kaley Hughes knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and by the end of the period, the Lady Lions trailed 10-12.

The second period, the Lady Lions surged and overcame Ardmore scoring 12 points and held the Lady Tigers to nine points. Durant led at half time 23-21.

The Lady Lions and Ardmore traded mini-runs with one another throughout the third period. Durant stepped out first with a 6-0 run led by Baxter’s three points. The Lady Tigers would answer back with a jolting 8-0 run of their own, but Durant returned the favor with a 6-2 run to end the wild quarter with a 35-31 lead.

Up by four points to begin the fourth period, Shaina Crites took a steal and ran it down the court for an easy fastbreak layup. Then the Lady Tigers got back to shooting from beyond the arc to get back into the game. After Durant’s Elizabeth Watkins drained a 3-pointer, Ardmore went on an 8-0 run to tie the game with only 2:48 left on the ticker. Then the game spilled over into a extra quarter.

The Lady Lions showed their toughness as they held the Lady Tigers to zero points in the overtime and it looked like the Ardmore didn’t want it as they missed all of their free throw attempts. In contrast to the Lady Tigers shooting woes, the Lady Lions went to the charity line four times and went 6-for-8, and that is what put the Lady Lions in the win column.

Baxter led Durant with 11 points, while Ardmore’s Tagayla Lee led all scorers with 21 points. Hailey Elrod added nine in Durant’s balanced scoring attack. Crites finished with eight, while Watkins added seven with six each from Hughes and Sierra Moore. Taylor Richards rounded out the scoring with two.