{"id":24277,"date":"2024-12-22T08:37:26","date_gmt":"2024-12-22T15:37:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-outscores-aztec-to-claim-lady-tiger-championship\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T22:51:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:51:15","slug":"durango-outscores-aztec-to-claim-lady-tiger-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-outscores-aztec-to-claim-lady-tiger-championship\/","title":{"rendered":"Durango outscores Aztec to claim Lady Tiger championship"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Durango
Durango Demons pose with the Lady Tigers Rumble in the Jungle tournament championship plaque after defeating Aztec on Saturday, December 21, 2024, at Lillywhite Gym. (Curtis Ray Benally\/Special to the Tri-City Record)<\/span>Curtis Ray Benally<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

AZTEC \u2013 The Durango High School girls basketball team overcame a close matchup against Aztec on Saturday night inside Lillywhite Gym at Aztec High to become champions of the the Lady Tiger Rumble in the Jungle Tournament by a final of 39-27.<\/p>\n

Aztec, led by 11 points by junior Jazzlyn Gomez and senior Bailey Clarence\u2019s nine, scored quick after getting the tip-off as Gomez drove to an easy layup to score two of the total six points Aztec scored by the end of the first quarter.<\/p>\n

Durango struggled with shooting in the first quarter, going only three-for-12 from the floor but managing to tie the game at 6-6 by the end of the period.<\/p>\n

Both teams were familiar with each other\u2019s offensive strategies as they faced off a week earlier in the Marv Sanders Invitational. Aztec\u2019s tight defense limited Durango\u2019s shooting opportunities, while the Demons\u2019 four steals disrupted Aztec\u2019s offensive flow.<\/p>\n

Each team responded to the other at the start of the second quarter. Durango found its rhythm offensively, while Aztec drew five points from seven free-throw attempts. The score was tied at 11-11 by the 6-minute mark.<\/p>\n

Durango took control in the latter half of the second quarter, using strong inside shooting to build a 19-13 lead at halftime.<\/p>\n

\"Durango's
Durango's Claire Goodwin puts up a jumper near the baseline against Aztec's Autumn Villanueva in the third quarter during the Lady Tigers Rumble in the Jungle tournament championship game on Saturday, December 21, 2024, at Lillywhite Gym. (Curtis Ray Benally\/Special to the Tri-City Record)<\/span>Curtis Ray Benally<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Aztec limited Durango\u2019s Claire Goodwin to six field goal attempts in the first half. In response, Durango adjusted to a fast-paced passing game, driving into the paint and kicking the ball out for outside shooting opportunities, adding eight points in the third quarter.<\/p>\n

Aztec broke its silence and rallied late in the third quarter when Khloe Schmidt stole the ball and scored a quick layup. The momentum carried over as Aztec converted five of nine shots from the floor to reclaim the lead by a slim 27-25 advantage at the end of the period.<\/p>\n

Both teams struggled to score in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter, with neither team finding the basket in the first three minutes.<\/p>\n

Aztec\u2019s strong 2-3 defense began to wear down as Durango pushed their fast-paced passing game. Meanwhile, the Demons aggressive defense forced multiple turnovers, converting several of those into points as they closed the game with a 12-0 run in the final two minutes to secure the tournament championship.<\/p>\n

\"Durango's
Durango's Lilly Fitzpatrick nearly turns the ball over to Aztec's Camden Mariano (32) and Autumn Villanueva (3) at midcourt in the third quarter during the Lady Tigers Rumble in the Jungle tournament championship game on Saturday, December 21, 2024, at Lillywhite Gym. (Curtis Ray Benally\/Special to the Tri-City Record)<\/span>Curtis Ray Benally<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Durango head coach Lauren Moran expected strong defensive performances from their opponents in the tournament. She credited her team\u2019s hustle in boosting their own defense, which ultimately helped secure the title.<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, the fact that we were able to force (Aztec) to turn the ball over so much allowed us to have more opportunities offensively and to get out on some fast breaks, which is really what helped us make our run in the fourth quarter,\u201d Moran said.<\/p>\n

The Demons\u2019 3-0 run in the tournament was fueled by strong performances from Ellie White and Mariah Maestas, both named to the all-tournament team, as well as Goodwin, who was named the tournament\u2019s most valuable player.<\/p>\n

Durango reached the tournament championship game after beating Grants 48-22 in a Friday semifinal victory. The Demons advanced to the second round of the tournament by way of a 51-29 rout over Wingate.<\/p>\n

Goodwin scored 18 points in Durango\u2019s first two games against Wingate and Grants, then added a game-high 15 points in the championship game against Aztec.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe work really good together,\u201d Goodwin said of the team\u2019s chemistry. \u201cOur coaches set us up to run plays to get me open when I\u2019m hot, and if I\u2019m not, then someone else is going to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Durango 39, Aztec 27 (Score By Quarters)TEAM1st2nd3rd4thFINALDemons61361439Tigers6714027<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

outscore Tigers 14-0 in final period to win Rumble in the Jungle title<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24278,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1240,1707,592,28,2693,680,642,346],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-24277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-aztec","tag-aztec-high-school","tag-durango-high-school","tag-headlines","tag-high-school-coaches","tag-high-school-girls-basketball","tag-high-school-sports","tag-sports"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24277"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78466,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24277\/revisions\/78466"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24277"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=24277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}