In a busy week of District 5A-4 action, the Durant Lady Lions remained unbeaten in league play while Durant’s boys salvaged the final contest of the week to notch its first district win.
The Lady Lions continued their run of tight, low-scoring outings as they toppled McAlester (42-30), Tahlequah (38-36) and Pryor (34-31) to improve to 6-1 overall and tied atop the district at 4-0.
Coach Aaron George’s boys saw one slip away to McAlester (61-57) and Tahlequah (58-48) before a strong 73-46 triumph at Pryor.
Durant will wrap up the first semester action with another road trip this week at Claremore.
Girls
A big second half propelled the Lady Lions to their largest margin of victory on the week after breaking open a tight game at intermission.
Durant held a slim 8-6 lead at the end of one stanza and 15-13 at intermission. They extended the margin to 27-21 through three frames and pulled even further away in the last period.
Two Lady Lions reached double digits with Iyana Wilson pitching in 13 points along with 10 from Emma Green. Abrianna Freeman contributed eight points, Ella Sorrels had six, Anslee Morse added four and Avery Blackburn finished with three.
A slow start put Durant in a 14-8 deficit through one period at Tahlequah but after being held scoreless in the opening stanza, Wilson erupted with eight second quarter points to spur a flurry that tied the game at 18 at intermission.
The Lady Lions held a slim 27-26 edge through three periods with a pair of Sorrels free throws helping ice the triumph in a tight fourth quarter.
Wilson was the long Lady Lion in double figures with 13 points. Sorrels and Freeman posted eight apiece, Morse added six with three also coming from Green.
A 14-point first quarter flurry at Pryor was one of Durant’s highest scoring frames of the week as Wilson and Green each pumped in six points, but the Lady Lions were unable to pull away very much at all.
It was a 20-14 edge at intermission and 25-18 after a lowscoring third when the hosts closed on a 13-9 burst.
Wilson poured in 13 with Green adding three treys for nine points. Sorrels, Morse and Freman each notched four points.
Boys
Carrying a 46-35 advantage into the final quarter it appeared that Durant had a very comfortable edge but that was far from the case thanks to McAlester exploding for 26 points to rally with the Lions managing just 11.
Leading scorer Tashaun Williams was the catalyst with 18 points as Leon Stone and Braylon King tallied 10 points apiece. The Lions picked up seven from Malachi Valliere and six by Boston Browder. Joseph Flores ended with two.
Things didn’t get much better against Tahlequah as the Tigers took the lead in the opening stanza and gradually pulled away from there. It was 12-11 through one quarter, 29-23 at halftime and 42-35 at the end of three frames.
Browder racked up 19 points with 14 coming from Williams. Stone contributed seven with five from Flores.
The road finale was a tight battle after two frames before Durant exploded over the final two quarters. It was knotted at 18 through one stanza and 33-32 Lions going to the half when things broke.
Durant erupted offensively with arguably its best quarter of the young season by outscoring the hosts 21-5 while taking complete control. They followed that up with a 19-9 scoring burst in the fourth as well.
Williams had a monster performance with a season-best 31 points, including 21 of which came before intermission and kept Durant right in it.
King popped in nine points, Browder had seven, Stone and Zach Ervin pitched in six apiece, Valliere had five and Flores posted four points.
