Nothing could take the Durango High School girls basketball team out of its rhythm Friday night.

A lengthy delay in the fourth quarter let them show off a bit of their rhythm, too.

Leading by five points with six minutes to play, a fire alarm went off inside the Pueblo County gymnasium, bringing a halt to second-round action of the Pueblo County Lady Hornets tournament.

The DHS Demons were playing the Harrison Panthers of Colorado Springs at the time, and the distraction didn’t deter the Demons, who went on to win 37-33 to remain unbeaten this season.

“We had the fire alarms go off, and we evacuated the building for 20 or 30 minutes. Then we came back in and played,” DHS head coach Tim Fitzpatrick said. “I got a pretty loose group of girls. When we all evacuated, the other team kind of started dancing around, and a couple of our girls jumped in and started dancing with them. They kept themselves entertained, and that was a good thing.”

Intense defense helped carry the Demons (4-0) past the Panthers (2-2). The Demons took an 11-5 lead in the first quarter and led wire-to-wire.

“There was a two-minute stretch where our defensive intensity was to a level we never achieved before. They got after it,” Fitzpatrick said of his team.

Taylor Edwards, a sophomore forward, hauled in several big rebounds, and she scored seven points.

Sophomore guard Katrina Chandler led DHS in scoring with 10 points. Junior guard Shilo Gillen added eight points, and senior guard Katie Wiegert scored seven.

DHS will play one last round-robin game in the tournament at 12:30 p.m. Saturday against Vista Ridge. A win would guarantee the Demons a spot in the tournament championship game at 7 p.m.

jlivingston@durangoherald.com