Trailing by 11 points entering the fourth quarter on the road last week, it appeared like the Durant Lady Lions were headed for their first district loss. Coach Tony Robinson’s troops had other ideas.
Durant put together a monumental comeback to force a pair of extra sessions and eventually outlast Claremore, 62-58, in a showdown of league co-leaders to remain unbeaten in District 5A-4.
It also culminated a string of three straight district road wins in just five days and improved the Lady Lions to 7-1 overall and 5-0 in league action. Four of those five wins have been on the road.
The Lions weren’t quite as fortunate as they came up on the short end of a 62-54 decision to the host Zebras.
Durant will be back home for district action in its first games after the Christmas break on January 6 when Tulsa East Central visits.
Girls
The Lady Lions were outscored in each of the first three stanzas, including 20-11 in the third frame that had the veteran Durant unit on the ropes.
An Ella Sorrels bucket almost 90 seconds into the final period provided the spark as the Lady Lions reeled off a 9-1 scoring flurry that narrowed the gap to 45-42 with 3:29 remaining.
They eventually narrowed the gap to just one and Sorrels charity toss with 11 seconds left knotted things at 48 to force overtime.
In the first extra session the two teams battled toe-to-toe before Abrianna Freeman fed Sorrels in the lane for a short jumper with two seconds on the clock that evened the score at 54.
Durant continued its defensive prowess in the second extra session, allowing a bucket before an Anslee Morse putback with 3:08 remaining gave the Lady Lions the lead for good at 57-56.
Iyana Wilson then put on a ball handling exhibition as Durant played ball control and cashed in critical free throws.
Sorrels tallied a game-high 20 points, 12 of which came after the third period. Wilson and Freeman notched 15 points apiece and Morse contributed a key nine points. Emma Green also chipped in three points.
Boys
The Lions rode eight first quarter points from leading scorer Tashaun Williams to a 13-12 lead but were outscored over the middle two periods as the Zebras took control.
Claremore snagged a 2522 advantage at halftime and extended the margin to 44-36 heading into the fourth stanza, holding off the Lions from there as each team notched 18 points in the last quarter.
Williams pumped in a teamhigh 20 points before fouling out in the fourth stanza.
Durant was fairly balanced after that although no other player reached double figures. Boston Browder pitched in five points in the final frame and ended with nine, Leon Stone tossed in eight, Joseph Flores had six and Malachi Valliere tallied six. They also got three points from Zach Ervin and one by Braylen King.
