After falling to Winter Haven in their district championship the week before, Durant hosted Riverview Sarasota in their regional quarterfinal game where they ultimately fell by a final score of 57-45, ending their year at 19-6.
For Durant, it was a chance to exact revenge on Riverview Sarasota after the Rams had previously eliminated the Cougars from tournament play in last year’s regional quarterfinal. In addition, the two teams played in late December, with Riverview Sarasota once again coming away with a 71-61 win.
Durant opened the scoring in an instant, with a pass downcourt to senior Maggie Lauber right off of the opening tip, ended with an easy layup to give the Cougars a 2-0 lead. Riverview Sarasota battled for a pair of offensive rebounds on the other end before finishing at the rim through a foul, hitting the lone free throw to take a 3-2 lead. And after both teams battled through a lengthy scoreless streak, the Rams added two more buckets to take a 7-2 lead before senior Sophia Flair drilled a three to cut into the deficit. A steal from Durant led to Lauber driving the lane on the other end, drawing a foul and converting on one free throw to make it 7-6. And Lauber followed the play up with another steal and ultimately finished the fast break opportunity herself to give the Cougars their lead back at 8-7. Two more buckets from Lauber allowed Durant to end the quarter on a 10-0 run and head into the second with a 12-7 lead.
Durant then opened the second quarter with an open layup from Flair to take a 14-7 lead, but Riverview Sarasota immediately battled back by getting stops on defense and in turn utilizing their size advantage inside to wrap up rebound opportunities, score inside and draw fouls. After an 8-0 run for the Rams, holding a 15-14 lead, Durant finally ended their cold spell with a midrange bucket from Flair, followed immediately by a quick three from Flair to retake their lead at 19-15. But despite the Cougars’ best efforts to hold off the rallying Rams, Riverview Sarasota immediately responded with a 10-0 run and took a 25-19 lead into halftime.
The Rams opened the third with a three to take extend their lead to 28-19 and were able to hold their lead for the remainder of the contest, never letting Durant claw back despite a hard-fought battle from the Cougars as Riverview Sarasota escaped with the win and advanced to the regional semifinals.
But despite an unfortunate ending to the season, overall it was yet another exceedingly successful one as the Cougars finished the year at 19-6, compiling a 39-11 overall record over the past two seasons. The charge was led by the senior group of Lauber, Flair, Ki’Ajanae Gordon and Miani Mejia, now leaving Durant after putting together two of the winningest seasons in school history and lifting the school’s first girls basketball district championship since 2017 last year with a win over rival Newsome in the district finals.
While Gordon was named Second Team All-Western Conference, Lauber and Flair earned First Team recognition while Flair was also named the Western Conference Player of the Year. Additionally, Lauber, Gordon and Mejia recently signed with Hillsborough Community College where they will continue their athletic and academic careers together later this year.