While it wasn’t the regional championship they had envisioned, the Durant Lady Lions stayed alive in the Class 5A playoffs with a runnerup finish in their home regional.
The Lady Lions cruised to a 51-23 triumph over Tulsa Rogers in the opening contest but then came up on the short end of a 37-31 to Shawnee in the title tilt, their second loss of the year to the Lady Wolves.
Durant’s boys saw their season come to an end, however, with a 7826 loss to Tulsa Edison in round one of regional action.
Coach Tony Robinson’s Lady Lions will need to win a pair of games this weekend at the Area Tournament in Jenks in order to make a return trip to the Class 5A State Tournament.
Girls
Cruising to a 15-2 cushion after one quarter, Durant was able to coast by Rogers while hosting regional action for the second straight year.
It was a 27-13 Lady Lion edge at intermission and they pushed it to 37-16 at the end of three frames.
Iyana Wilson was the ringleader offensively with 17 points as Ella Sorrels also tacked on double digits with 14. Emma Green canned a pair of three pointers in the early surge and tallied six for the game, Abrianna Freeman scored five, Anslee Morse had four, Zoe Lee pitched in two and Avery Blackburn added one.
A rough third period in which Durant managed only one free throw each from Wilson and Sorrels proved fatal for the Lady Lion chances as Shawnee built a commanding 31-18 advantage.
The Lady Lions found a spark fueled by Sorrels’ six points in the fourth but the comeback bid fell short as their record dipped to 18-8 on the year. Shawnee led 10-5 after one quarter and 20-16 at the half prior to the decisive third frame.
Sorrels turned in a 13-point scoring effort but was the only double figure scorer. Freeman and Blackburn contributed six apiece, Wilson was limited to three and Morse chipped in two points.
Boys
A slow start dug the Lions an insurmountable first half deficit as Edison raced out of the gates to claim a 17-4 edge through one period and extended that margin to 42-9 at halftime.
Durant scored half its total points in the third period as Tyson Thompson led the charge with five but it was not enough to cut any off the Eagles’ cushion.
Senior Tashaun Williams, who earlier in the week was named second team All-District, topped the scoring column with 11 points. Thompson wrapped up with five, Joseph Flores and Zach Ervin tossed in four each with Edon Bekteshi adding two.
