The Durant Lady Lions snapped a more than a decade long losing skid to Ada and claimed third place in the Annual East Central Classic last week.
Coach Tony Robinson’s club opened the week with a come-frombehind 56-50 win over East Central and downed Purcell (41-35) in the tournament lid lifter before a loss to powerful Shawnee (50-37). They rebounded nicely to topple the Lady Cougars (48-18) while snapping an 18-game losing skid against Ada.
Durant’s boys dropped all three contests in the tournament, falling to Dickson (64-45), Ada (52-22) and Purcell (49-36) as well as an 84-39 setback to East Central earlier in the week.
Iyana Wilson was named to the All-Tournament team on the girls side with Tashaun Williams snagging All-Tournament honors for the boys.
Both squads will return home on Friday to face Tulsa Memorial in another district twinbill.
Girls
Hot shooting East Central gave the Lady Lions all they wanted in the first outing since the Christmas break, but Durant grabbed a 34-33 edge at the third quarter buzzer and then won a highscoring final frame led by eight points from Freeman.
Ella Sorrels led three Lady Lions in double figures by posting 16 points, Iyana Wilson contributed 13 and Freeman tossed in 12. Anslee Morse scored seven with Emma Green adding a pair of treys.
The Purcell contest was another tight affair knotted at 27 through three periods before another big Durant fourth quarter push with a 14-8 scoring edge to claim the first round triumph.
Wilson paced the offensive attack with 13 points while Sorrels and Freeman tallied 11 points apiece.
Durant dug a 16-8 first quarter hole against eventual tourney champ Shawnee and could never fully recover against the 10-1 Lady Wolves. They narrowed the gap to 2418 at halftime and closed to within 33-31 late in the third stanza ahead of a 17-0 Shawnee blitz that put the game on ice.
Wilson notched 16 points with 11 coming from Sorrels and eight by Freeman.
The first quarter proved much more kind to the Lady Lions in the Ada outing, jumping out to a 13-5 lead through one and 20-9 at the half before steadily continuing to pull away following the break.
Sorrels canned four three points on the way to a teamhigh 19 points as Wilson also chipped in double figures with 10. Freeman tallied nine points and Morse had six.
Boys
Powerhouse Tulsa East Central took control in the very first quarter of the opening game of the week in building a 25-6 lead after one and never looked back.
The Lions were led by Williams’ 12 points with Tyson Thompson adding three treys on the way to 11 points.
Slow starts continued for Durant in each tournament as they were playing catch up from the get go.
Dickson opened with a 10-6 edge through one stanza but the Lions found a spark with Williams in the second stanza, posting a 19-10 scoring surge for the halftime edge. Williams pitched in 10 of those before the break.
The Comets, however, exploded for 20 points in the third period and 24 in the fourth and Durant couldn’t come up with an offensive answer to match. Williams wrapped up with 19 points as Joseph Flores and Boston Browder contributed six each.
Durant managed just two points in the first period against Ada and didn’t get a point in the fourth stanza while scoring 20 points in between. Williams led the scoring with seven.
In the finale facing Purcell, the Lions trailed 8-3 through a quarter but came to life with a 17-6 second period surge. That made it a 20-14 Durant lead but Coach Aaron George’s club was outgunned 35-16 over the final two periods.
Williams canned three treys on the way to 20 points as Leon Stone was next in scoring with seven.
