Durant basketball hosted Bloomingdale on Tuesday, with the Cougars’ boys moving to 3-0 with a 57-25 victory and the girls falling to 4-2 with a 60-52 loss.
The boys’ contest was tight to start, with the Cougars holding an 11-9 lead late in the first quarter before senior Cam Cotal hit a corner three with seconds left in the period to give Durant a 14-9 lead after one.
In the second, Durant opened the scoring as a steal from senior Xavier Peavy turned into an easy bucket from senior Bray Dulay as the Cougars went up 16-9, but the Bulls responded with a three-point shot on the other end to leave it 16-12. Over the remainder of the quarter the Cougars would catch fire on both sides of the court, forcing turnover after turnover and converting on the offensive end with ease as they rattled off a 21-5 run to end the half, taking a 37-16 lead into halftime.
Onto the second half, Durant continued their dominant run like it never stopped as junior Wylde Correa immediately drained a corner three to extend the Cougars’ lead to 40-16. After a bucket from Abiola Adeyemo made it 42-16, Bloomingdale would end the run with a layup that would ultimately be their only field goal of the quarter as they trailed 42-18. Later in the quarter, leading 47-18, Dulay hit a big three-point shot in transition and followed it up the next possession with a tough layup through the foul to put Durant up 52-18.
With the game easily in hand through three quarters, leading 55-18 heading into the fourth, Durant’s starters were able to exit the contest comfortably as the Cougars cruised to a 57-25 victory.
In the second contest of the night, Durant’s girls took an early advantage over Bloomingdale with red hot shooting in the first.
Ki’ajanae Gordon opened the contest with a corner three, followed by buckets from Sophia Flair and Miani Mejia to take a 9-4 lead in the game’s opening minutes. Solid defense and high-percentage shooting allowed Durant to outscore the Bulls 16-7 over the remainder of the period to take a 25-11 lead into the second.
In the second quarter Bloomingdale was able to scratch and claw every step of the way, keeping the Cougars from running away with the contest and matching Durant bucket-for-bucket as they whittled the deficit down to just 10, heading into halftime trailing 37-27.
Flair started the second half with a bucket to put the Cougars up 12 at 39-27 but Bloomingdale responded with five straight points by way of two consecutive trips to the free throw line and a layup over their next three possessions. Gordon ended the Bloomingdale run with a three-pointer and senior guard Maggie Lauber followed it up with a steal on the defensive end, taking it down the court and converting the transition layup to once again put the Cougars up by 12 at 44-32.
Trailing by double digits, the Bulls began to press on defense, pressuring the Cougars on inbound passes and forcing turnovers by setting traps on Durant’s guards in their backcourt. With the change in defensive planning came success as Bloomingdale scored 12 consecutive points to knot the contest up at 44-44, later taking their first lead of the night at 47-46 a few short minutes later as they converted a layup on their first possession of the fourth quarter.
The Bulls immediately moved their lead to three with another score but Elani Randall cut the Bloomingdale lead to one with a pretty move in the paint to beat her defender inside and convert at the rim. On the Cougars next possession Gordon earned a trip to the line, hitting one free throw to tie the game back up at 49-49. Over the next several minutes both defenses proved impenetrable as neither offense could muster a single point to break the deadlock, but ultimately it was Durant that pulled ahead 51-49 as Gordon drove the lane and scored on a tough layup. And as quickly as Durant pulled back ahead, Bloomingdale answered with a huge three-point shot on their next possession to take a 52-51 lead before outscoring the Cougars 8-1 over the game’s final two minutes to escape with a 60-52 victory.
Durant’s boys returned to action on Wednesday against Haines City and both teams will finish the week at home as they host visiting East Bay.