SPORTS
Lady Rabbits win 50-46 in overtime; start home tourney on a sour note
The Bowie Lady Rabbits played in another thriller Friday night at Wichita Falls High School.
A bad first quarter saw them playing catch up most of the game before winning in overtime 50-46 to go to 4-0.
The Lady Rabbits scored only two points in the first quarter and trailed 29-14 at halftime.
“We were not good early, we did not come out ready to play,” Coach Chuck Hall said. “They got after us.”
Bowie played a better third quarter, but still trailed 40-27 heading into the fourth quarter. The fourth quarter saw the Lady Rabbits climb all the way back as their defense held the Lady Coyotes to only four points as they tied the game up in regulation 44-44. By then, Bowie had the momentum and was able to secure the win by playing better in overtime to get the 50-46 win.
With a 4-0 start and with three of the four games close, Hall was not expecting his team would make it through their hosted Hoopin’ into the Holidays tournament this week without a loss and his prediction was correct.
The Lady Rabbits opened the tournament Monday morning against Graham and lost on a layup at the buzzer 37-36.
The game was slow paced and low scoring from both sides. Bowie struggled to handle the Lady Blues full court press at times and turned the ball over and struggled to score inside against the bigger girls from Graham.
Conversely, the Lady Rabbits packed the paint in a 2-3 zone to prevent the Lady Blues from getting good position inside for most of the game.
Neither team could get much of an advantage in the first half as the score was tied 16-16 at halftime.
The third quarter saw more scoring from both teams as they both ran cleaner offenses that found easier shots as the Lady Blues made a couple of three-pointers to take advantage of the zone while Aslyn Davis made two three-pointers of her own for Bowie. The Lady Rabbits led 28-26 heading into the fourth quarter.
Bowie slowly extended its lead to 34-30 midway through the fourth quarter. With 2:39 to go, the Lady Rabbits started to stall forcing Graham to foul them. After a missed free throw, the Lady Blues got to the free throw line and made one of two. They then were able to steal the ball from Bowie and score in transition to cut the lead to 34-33 with a little more than a minute left.
After another steal, Graham was able to take the lead 35-34 with 32 seconds left. The Lady Rabbits were able to quickly get the ball inside to Howard, who was fouled on the shot attempt with 21 seconds left. She made both clutch free throws to give Bowie a 36-35 lead.
The Lady Blues were able to run the clock down and found a driving lane where one of their players made a contested layup/floater over her defender as the clock wound down to win 37-36.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
The Nocona Lady Indians beat Saint Jo at home on Saturday morning.
The Lady Indians won 16-1 after four innings due to run-rule against the smaller school.
Nocona was coming off a competitive loss at Collinsville earlier in the week while the Lady Panthers were hoping to compete after a busy week of their athletes doing everything else besides just softball.
The Lady Indians easily won the first matchup between the teams in March, 19-2 and it was more of the same on Saturday.
Saint Jo struck first to start the game off well. Jordyn O’Neal hit a one out single. Krista Reeves followed with a walk after O’Neal had stolen second base and had advanced to third thanks to an error trying to throw her out. A wild pitch then allowed her to score to put the Lady Panthers up 1-0.
The lead did not last long. Nocona’s first two batters drew walks which set up Abby Hill to drive them both in with a single to right field.
Despite giving up a single and a walk later in the inning, Saint Jo’s defense did not allow another run. A line out and groundout to the shortstop while picking off a runner attempting to steal got the Lady Panthers out of the inning unscarred.
The Lady Indians led 2-1.
That was about as competitive as it got. In the second inning, Nocona’s bats got going. Two singles and a hit batter loaded the bases up with no outs.
Reagan Phipps drew a walk that drove in a run. Hill hit another two RBI single. Skye Kirby followed with a two RBI double.
After the first out, Allie Sutton drove in one run with a single. There was a fly out for out two, before a runner came in to score after a passed ball. Finally, an error allowed two more runs to score on the base paths.
Nocona had scored nine runs and led 11-1 to break the game open heading into the third inning.
Taylor Patrick hit a double, with O’Neal and Reeves following with singles. Unfortunately for Saint Jo, Patrick was thrown out before the hits attempting to steal a base so the Lady Panthers scored no runs from this.
The Lady Indians kept pouring on the runs. Two singles and a walk loaded the bases up with no outs. Tinley Cable then hit an RBI single. Shelby Swell was hit by a pitch that drove in another run.
After two strikeouts, Evelyn Marquez drove in two more runs on a double to put Nocona up 15-1, coming up one run short of ending the game early.
The Lady Indians scored that one run in the fourth inning. After Phipps drew a leadoff walk, Hill hit a triple that drove her in to end the game.
Nocona won 16-1.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
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