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Lady Lion Ella Sorrels shoots the ball in the game with Sulphur during the Madill Winter Classic. Matt Swearengin | Durant Democrat
Coming off a pair of district losses early in the week, Durant’s high school basketball teams followed up in the Madill Winter Classic as the Lady Lions won a pair of games to claim third with the Lions falling in the consolation finals.
Coach Will Robinson’s Lady Lions opened the event with a 68-18 pounding of Sulphur ahead of a 46-26 semifinal loss to host Madill.
After a first round setback against defending state champ Caddo, the Lions rebounded to dispatch Dickson, 62-39. In the final contest they dropped a 54-50 verdict to Sulphur.
Durant returns home Friday to face Tulsa Edison in the final games before the Christmas break.
Girls
The Lady Lions bolted to a 15-6 first quarter edge behind eight early points from All-Tournament performer Ella Sorrells.
Maya Dodson pumped in five as Du- rant pushed the lead to 28-12 at intermission. They followed with a monster 22-5 third quarter flurry with Sorrells and Iyana Wilson tossing in six apiece to lead the charge.
Durant then finished things off by outscoring the Lady Bulldogs by an 18-1 count in the final frame for one of its largest margins of victory in the last several seasons.
Ten Lady Lions all got into the scoring column with Sorrells posting 15 points. Dodson notched 13 and Wilson ended with 12.
Kennedy Lafevers pitched in seven points, Emma Green and Abrianna Freeman had six apiece, Emeri Morse tallied four, Anslee Morse contributed three and Sydney Grover rounded out the scoring with two.
Scoring was much harder to come by against Madill as the Lady Lions trailed 11-8 through one period but only managed a Sorrells bucket in the second frame as the hosts went in front 22-10 at halftime.
Things got a little better after the break, but outside of a strong 12-point effort from Sorrells, Durant only scored four other points in the last two periods.
Sorrells wrapped up with a team-high 18 points. Dodson tallied four with two apiece coming from Emeri Morse and Wilson.
Boys
Durant came out smoking in the Dickson win, exploding out of the gate with 24 first quarter points thanks in large part to six three pointers. Ryder Jones and Jaylon Saxon were the catalysts, canning two of the long-range shots each.
The Lions continued the charge in pushing the advantage to 39-14 at the half and also took a 50-26 edge into the final period.
Jones paced a balanced scoring onslaught with 12 points as Saxon scored 11 and Callaway Nabors pitched in 11. Braylen Lyday scored eight, Tashaun Williams had seven, Nabors ended with six, Kolton Mason had five, Joseph Flores tallied for and Carson Robinson had three.
A wild 54-50 loss to Sulphur wrapped up the tournament as Durant caught fire down the stretch, hitting four treys in the row in the losing effort.
Sulphur was up 12-9 through one stanza and 24-18 at intermission before narrowing the gap to 32-30 heading to the allimportant final frame.
Saxon hit a trio of three pointers and posted 14 points in the fourth quarter alone in leading the Lion comeback. Mason and Jones also sank treys in the rally.
Leading the charge for the game was Saxon’s seasonhigh 29 points while Jones also reached double digits with 10. Nabors and Williams both notched four points and Mason ended with three.