Nothing was falling from the outside, so Pagosa Springs found a little something inside.
Powered by a game-high 16 points from Morgan Schaaf, the Pagosa Springs girls basketball team worked its way past the Durango Demons 42-28 in a battle of previously unbeaten teams Tuesday night at Durango High School.
Despite a slew of turnovers and only seven points out of leading scorer and Fort Lewis College commit Payton Shahan, the Pirates (6-0) dominated the second half to remain undefeated. The big win over the Class 4A Demons (7-1) will only help the Pirates, who are ranked No. 1 in Class 3A in the Associated Press poll and No. 3 in the CHSAANow.com poll, going forward.
“This was a big game for us. We felt like it was one of the better teams on our schedule for the year,” Pagosa Springs head coach Wes Lewis said. “There was hype coming into it. We settled down the second half a bit, got some shots going our way, and Morgan Schaaf had a really good game, especially early in the first half.”
DHS controlled the first quarter, as both teams struggled to adjust to the tight way the game was officiated. DHS claimed a 4-2 lead after the opening 8 minutes, with Pagosa Springs committing eight turnovers during that stretch.
But the Pirates settled into the game in the second quarter, feeding Morgan Schaaf in the post. Schaaf scored 10 of her points in the first half, with eight coming in the second quarter on a perfect 4-for-4 shooting performance.
DHS battled foul trouble, with Katrina Chandler and Katie Wiegert both picking up three fouls in the first half.
“It’s tough. Katie is our leading scorer, and when we have to sit her, it hurt us a bit,” DHS head coach Tim Fitzpatrick said. “But I’m proud of the kids that came off the bench and played big minutes.”
The Demons’ bench came through to keep the game close, with Shilo Gillen hitting a long jump shot before the end of the half to trim the Pirates’ lead to 16-14.
That long bucket energized the Demons’ bench, which had watched the Pirates go on a 9-0 run to take a seven-point lead quickly in the second quarter.
The Demons made only two shots from the field in the first half, shooting 2-for-11 from the floor. Still, they stayed in the game thanks to 10-of-17 free-throw shooting.
“It definitely was a step up in level of competition for us,” Fitzpatrick said. “It’s good for us to see the physicality of Pagosa. Coming back from break, yeah we were rusty, but no excuses. We learned a lot from that game, and hopefully we can improve.”
Wiegert finished with six points, and Chandler had nine to lead the Demons.
“It was a reality check, for sure,” said Wiegert, daughter of Coby and Jill Wiegert.
The Pirates again came on strong to open the third quarter thanks to a pair of buckets from Megan Farrah and a 3-pointer from Taylor Lee-Hammer.
Wiegert picked up her fourth personal foul quickly in the third and had to sit the remainder of the period, putting the Demons’ leading scorer on the bench at a crucial time.
Pagosa Springs cruised from there, sparked by a four-point play by Shannel Wilson.
DHS will play again Thursday at Fort Lewis College against Ignacio. Fitzpatrick hopes his team can turn around quickly and learn from Tuesday.
“That was a great game for us to gauge where we are. Maybe a humility check for our kids, which is OK,” he said. “We will try to move on from here and see where we can get better.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
