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Nocona vs Bowie ladies battle; Lady Indians win district title

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In a game that had people from both communities show up in a frenzy, the Nocona Lady Indians were able to secure an un-shared district title on their rival Bowie’s home court on Tuesday.
In a low scoring defensive struggle that saw the Lady Rabbits lead for most of the game, the Lady Indians were able to come out ahead 38-34.
The stakes coming into the game could not have been higher. With Bowie one game back in the standings, a Lady Rabbit win would mean the teams would share the district title along with Childress.
Fans came out of the woodwork as Bowie’s student section was easily the most energetic it has been all season, ready at any moment to shout the cliché, but effective “You can’t do that” chant on every foul call.
As if things could not have been more high stakes, the Lady Rabbits were missing head coach Chuck Hall from the sidelines on Tuesday for unspecified reasons. Assistant Coach Jaimie Hickey assumed the role as head coach in the team’s biggest game of the year. Also it was senior night.
Both teams came out and knocked in three-pointers in the first minute and half to start the game, but soon the game settled into a slow pace that Bowie favors.
Nocona’s Averee Kleinhans was able to push the ball in transition to get some baskets and to the free throw line, but opportunities were few and far between for her.
The Lady Rabbits try to work from inside out, which usually means getting the ball to leading scorer Hope Howard, and going from there. The Lady Indians made sure Howard had no where to go for most of the game after she caught the ball in the post. At some points three defenders would closer her off forcing her to pass out.
Nocona’s plan of running the offense through Kleinhans while her and Trystin Fenoglio shared ball handling duties, Bowie tried to take away Fenoglio. They left Aslyn Davis on Kleinhans for most of the game to make her earn every point and limit her playmaking opportunities.
Both of these defensive approaches worked for the most part. Kleinhans scored eight of the teams 10 points while the Jackrabbits got a smattering of scoring from three players while controlling the tempo. Nocona led 10-9 heading into the second quarter.
Bowie came out in a press defense to start the second quarter. While it did not force many turnovers, it did enough to disrupt the Lady Indians offense for most of the quarter. They invited Kleinhans to shoot and would have a defender there to contest every shot or bring help on her drives to the basket. Nocona was limited to six points in the quarter.
Offensively, the Lady Rabbits continued to grind out possessions with long sequences of passing. Baskets from four different players from a variety of different spots on the court, including another three-pointer, allowed Bowie to take a small 19-16 lead at halftime.
For the large majority of the third quarter, it was all the Lady Rabbits. Everyone on Bowie’s side from the players on the bench to the crowd cheered every good thing that happened. For a mostly defensive team that has had its issues during the season scoring the ball, some games energy and enthusiasm has been lacking, but there was no excuse for it Tuesday night.
The defense continued to frustrate Kleinhans while shutting everyone else out, while the offense scored in big ways. The Lady Rabbits established the biggest lead of the game 29-19, punctuated with two three-pointers and the ref warning Kleinhans about her almost drawing a technical foul. With the crowd going crazy and the low scoring nature of the game, the lead seemed like it might be too much for the Lady Indians to overcome.
With less than two minutes to go in the third quarter, Kleinhans was subbed out so she could regain her composure. In her place Fenoglio was able to score back-to-back quick baskets with driving floaters to cut what seemed like a near insurmountable lead 10 point lead a few minutes ago to 29-23 heading into the fourth quarter.
The teams traded baskets in the opening quarter as Howard scored inside and Fenoglio made another floater. Kleinhans checked back in and Nocona was able to cut the lead to one basket 31-28 with a little less than four minutes to go.
Bowie tried to run some clock on its next two possessions, but both possessions ended with turnovers. The Lady Indians cut the lead to one point 31-30 with 1:45 to go. With her team in the bonus, Kleinhans knocked in two free throws to give Nocona its first lead since the second quarter 32-31.
The Lady Rabbits had a chance to take back the lead seconds later with a one-and-one free throw attempt, but missed the first shot. Kleinhans was sent back to the free throw line and again made both attempts to increase Nocona’s lead to 34-31 with 1:11 to go.
Bowie’s Taygon Jones was fouled and despite being a freshman, she coolly knocked in both free throws to cut the lead to 34-33 with 57 seconds left. The Lady Rabbits then tried to force a turnover with their press, but ended up having to foul Fenoglio with 34 seconds left.
Fenoglio was able to make both free throws to put the lead back up to 36-33. Bowie drew a shooting foul with 21 seconds left, but unfortunately for them could not make either shot. The Lady Rabbits Jayci Logan was able to secure the offensive rebound and Bowie got off a potential game tying three-pointer that missed the basket.
Nocona got the rebound and Kleinhans was able to make her next two free throws with eight seconds left to ice the game. The Lady Indians won 38-34.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.

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Baseball Roundup

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Saint Jo vs Bellevue
The Saint Jo Panthers got out of their early season funk as they beat fellow 1A Bellevue twice last week on two different days.
The Panthers won the first high-scoring game 15-9 before shut out the Eagles 10-0 in the second game.
Saint Jo had a rough beginning to its season, with mostly ugly losses and only one win.
Bellevue came in with no wins, but it was not unexpected due to it being the Eagles first year as a program since the late 1990s.
Bellevue led the first game for most of it scoring five runs in the first inning and just holding off the Panthers 5-4 heading into the sixth inning.
Saint Jo then caught fire, scoring six runs in the sixth inning to take its first lead since the first inning. The Eagles kept it close and scored four runs to make it a one run game 10-9 heading into the final inning.
The game had to be postponed due to Bellevue’s new field not having any lights to play past a certain time.
When the game was picked up three days later, the Panthers added five more run to their lead. The Eagles could not answer and Saint Jo won the game 15-9.
Devein Stewart and Logan Hoover led the Panthers four RBIs each while Charlie Evans and R Forrester drove in two runs each.
Trent Gaston pitched 4.1 innings and allowed two runs and struck out seven batters to lead the team.
Saint Jo’s defense committed four errors.
For Bellevue, Brayden Moore led the team with three RBIs while Bryce Ramsey and Ryan Jones each drove in two runs.
Ramsey pitched five innings and allowed four runs while striking out nine batters to lead the team.
The second game picked up right after the end of the first game. Unfortunately for the Eagles, the second game went similarly to the end of first game.
Saint Jo scored three runs in the first inning, four in the second inning and three in the third inning.
The Panther defense shut out Bellevue and the game ended with Saint Jo winning 10-0 after four and half innings due to run rule.
Sam Martin led the Panthers with four RBIs while Evans drove in two runs. Stewart pitched three innings and allowed one hit and one walk while striking out six batters. Hoover pitched two innings and struck out four batters while allowing no hits and walking two batters. The team committed no fielding errors.
For Bellevue, River Trail got the only hit in the game for the team. The team drew three walks, but could not get on base.
Blake Reese led the team with two innings pitched and three earned runs on two hits and five walks while striking out two batters. The defense committed no fielding errors.

Nocona
The Nocona Indians lost their second game against Muenster on Friday on the road.
The Indians lost 10-0 after five innings due to run-rule as the Hornets picked up all of their runs in one horrible inning for Nocona.
The score was tied at 0-0 heading into the bottom of the third inning. The Indian defense had navigated one out singles the first two innings without letting it morph into anything threatening.
Unfortunately, the third inning saw Muenster get going from the first batter.
Five singles, two doubles, two walks and a hit batter later saw the Hornets score 10 runs.
Nocona’s bats had been able to get someone on base in most innings despite Walker Murphey getting the team’s only base hit, but could not get a run to score.
The Indian defense did bounce back to not allow any runs in the fourth or fifth inning, but with no runs coming through for Nocona, the game ended after five innings.
Muenster won 10-0.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.

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Softball Roundup

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Nocona
The Nocona Lady Indians lost at home on Friday night against Muenster.
The Lady Hornets won 9-0, with most of the damage coming in the fourth inning against the Lady Indians.
Nocona gave up two runs in the first inning, but kept the game within reach after shutting out Muenster in the second and third innings.
Then came the fourth inning. Five fielding errors and two singles contributed to the Lady Hornets scoring six runs to go up 8-0.
The Lady Indians struggled to get their bats going all game though they did get some base runners that could have been worked home with some timely plays in other games.
Muenster added one more run in the sixth inning to make the final score 9-0.

Saint Jo
The Saint Jo Lady Panthers lost a shootout at Era on Friday night.
The Lady Hornets won 25-15 in a game that ended early after six innings due to run-rule.
Saint Jo was trailing the early part of the game down 9-1 after three innings.
The Lady Panthers then had a huge offensive inning, scoring nine runs in the fourth inning to go up 10-9.
Era bounced back in the same inning and scored three runs to retake the lead 12-10, but Saint Jo then scored four runs in the fifth inning and one in the sixth inning as it lead 15-12.
The Lady Hornets then embarked on an inning from hell for the Lady Panthers, more than doubling their score and not ending until Era was up by 10 runs to end the game early.
The Lady Hornets had scored 13 runs to win 25-15.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.

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Nocona’s Stone signs to play football

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Nocona senior Johnny Stone, son of Chelsi and Haydan, signed his letter of intent to play football at Southwestern Assemblies of God University in Waxahachie on Monday. Stone played running back and linebacker for Nocona on varsity for three years, helping the Indians go from two wins his first season to winning 16 games the last two seasons that resulted in playoff berths and a district title this past season. Stone has also spent time playing baseball, golf, basketball and track during his four years at Nocona. “They have a great program there,” Stone said. “Their business and financing program, it is five years for a masters so I thought that was a really good choice. They have a nice indoor gym. They really focus on the relgious part of school.” Stone plans to focus on business and financing major with maybe a minior in religious beliefs.

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