SPORTS
HIGH SCHOOL VOLLEYBALL: Nocona finishes third in Silver
By ERIC VICCARO
[email protected]
It was a weekend of varying fortunes for Montague County volleyball programs at the Buckle Up For Lane’s Sake Tournament in Nocona.
Nocona won two of three matches during Saturday’s performance-based play for third place in the Silver Bracket.
Bowie, after falling to Callisburg early on Thursday morning, received tall Celina as a first-round draw in the Gold Bracket. The Lady Rabbits couldn’t find traction, and lost both of their matches – including an afternoon sweep by Archer City.
Saint Jo, which struggled in recent matches, exited the Bronze Bracket after a couple of losses early in the morning.
Peaster’s Kennedy Warren was named tournament most valuable player, guiding her team to a sweep over Boyd 25-20, 25-17 in the Gold Bracket championship. Celina was third.
Ponder needed three sets to beat Henrietta in the Silver Bracket, winning by scores of 25-19, 19-25, 25-23. Third sets were played to 25 points on Saturday. Read more in the Sept. 7 Bowie News.
Silver Division
Ponder def. Henrietta 25-19, 19-25, 25-23
Ponder def. Christ Academy 25-14, 25-23
Henrietta def. Nocona 25-14, 25-19
Nocona def. Christ Academy 25-20, 25-19
Christ Academy def. Vernon 25-15, 25-22
Vernon def. Windthorst 26-24, 25-23
Christ Academy def. Jacksboro 25-20, 21-25, 25-19
Ponder def. Iowa Park 25-21, 25-16
Nocona def. Valley View 25-9, 21-25, 25-21
Henrietta def. Tioga 25-9, 25-20
Windthorst def. Jacksboro, score not reported
Tioga def. Valley View, score not reported
Windthorst def. Tioga 25-17, 25-18
Ponder was the champion in the Silver Division.
Nocona’s Emma Meekins goes for a back-row attack during the Silver Bracket third-place match against Christ Academy. (News photo by Eric Viccaro)
Prairie Valley
The Prairie Valley Bulldogs had a good final non-district warm-up on Friday at home against Ector.
The Eagles beat the Bulldogs 69-63 in a game where Prairie Valley was trying to play catch up all the way through.
The Bulldogs were coming off a tough tournament at Electra the previous week to try and knock the holiday rust off. Prairie Valley was familiar with Ector, having played the team to start its season back in early November and was hoping to compete better than it did in that first game.
The Eagles came out firing, splashing five 3-pointers, including several deep ones, to go out to a 21-8 lead in the first quarter. Even with the Bulldogs changing out of their preferred zone defense, the 3-pointers continued a bit and opened things up inside the arc.
Thankfully, Prairie Valley’s offense came alive in the second quarter, scoring 18 points and cutting the lead down to 38-26 at halftime.
The third quarter was more of the same, though a different player for Ector started to get hot from beyond the arc. Even as the Bulldogs were able to keep up their offensive production from the second quarter, they could not break through and cut the game to single-digits, trailing 54-42 heading into the final period.
The fourth quarter saw Prairie Valley break through to cut it the lead to single-digits, but just not close enough. Every time the Bulldogs were on the cusp of making it a one or two basket game, the Eagles would make a shot to keep that distance.
In the end, the final score was the closest Prairie Valley got as Ector won 69-63.
Nocona
The Nocona Indians bounced back with a competitive district win at Petrolia on Friday.
The Indians won 60-53 against the Pirates in a game where the middle quarters took drastic swings in momentum.
Nocona was coming off its first district loss against Windthorst as the team sat a 1-1 district record.
Petrolia came into the game at 0-1, but had a bit more time to prepare for the game.
The first quarter was competitive, but the Indians were able to get to the free throw line at will and led 16-11.
Then Nocona’s pressure defense turned up its intensity in the second quarter.
“Our pressure seemed to disrupt them and we were able to get out in transition after forcing turnovers,” Coach Brody Wilson said.
Nocona scored 25 points and led 41-25 at halftime.
Unfortunately, that intensity did not keep up at the start of the third quarter for Nocona.
The Indians took their foot off the gas a little bit which allowed Petrolia’s offense to get back into the game and make up some of the deficit.
The Pirates outscored Nocona 15-7 and trailed only 48-40 heading into the final period.
Thankfully, the Indians bounced back and competed a bit better in the fourth quarter. Nocona was able to keep offensive pace to keep Petrolia at a bit of a distance instead of making it a one score game.
The Indians held on to win 60-53.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly Bowie News.
For more pictures from the Prairie Valley game, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6871971&T=1
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