The Bowie Lady Rabbits gave the eventual district champ Holliday its last good shot Friday on the road.
The state-ranked Lady Eagles still won comfortably 68-36, but the Lady Rabbits gave them a much better fight than they did the first time the teams played back.
Back in mid December, the start of district play saw Bowie overwhelmed by the size and skill of Holliday as the team lost 71-15 in a game that was as one-sided as the score.
Since then the Lady Rabbits reeled off seven straight wins, including five in district to finish in second place after the first round of play.
Even though the Lady Eagles also beat the rest of the district just as easily and has state title dreams, Bowie should have given them a better game the first time and this was going to be its last shot.
What made the matchup especially tough for Bowie is Holliday’s overwhelming size. Almost all of the Lady Eagles starting five are 5’10” or taller, while the Lady Rabbits have only one player topping out at that height in Ziba Robbins who plays more on the perimeter.
The lack of height has been one of the tough things for Bowie the last three seasons when it has finished behind Holliday in district. What put the Lady Eagles over the top this year was adding Jalynn Bristow, who is listed at 6’2” and is committed to Iowa State University to play basketball.
Playing a game against such an athlete who knows how to use every inch of her physical advantage is an adjustment Bowie never seemed to get over in the first game as the team never got anything going offensively or could slow Holliday down.
This time, the Lady Rabbits were determined to try and compete with them better. Bowie tried to play at a deliberately slow pace, holding the ball against the Lady Eagles zone since they wanted to get up and down the floor by forcing turnovers with their length.

Bowie lost 68-36.

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