Two former Bowie boy’s golf members played in the PGA University Championship on Nov. 12-13. (L-R) Cy Egenbacher and Imanol Walker are both in the Sam Houston University PGA Golf Managerment program. The team finished 16th overall. Egenbacher shot 168 during the two rounds and finished tied for 67th. Walker shot 180 and finished 84th. The tournament is a fun one for univesities that have PGA Golf Management programs, which is for individuals who want to work in the golf industry after graduation.

The Saint Jo Lady Panthers came up short at the regional final for the third straight season, one game away from state, on Saturday at the regional tournament in Midlothian.
The Lady Panthers beat Evant in straight sets 3-0 on Friday to reach the final game against Harrold which they lost 3-0.
Saint Jo knew before the season even started it would likely come to this big challenge, but it still had to go through all the steps to get there.
The Panthers reached the regional finals the previous two seasons, losing both times to eventual state champion Blum.
With district realignment meant a new region so a rematch with a Blum program that had graduated several key players from those teams would have to wait until state possibly.
Instead, a showdown against last year’s state runner-up Harrold was forecast in the regional final.
With the team having six seniors, with five of them having been on varsity since they were freshman, it was this year or bust for Saint Jo.
First, the Lady Panthers had to beat Evant. The Lady Elks leaned heavily on a big front court player. When she rotated to the back row, Evant showed almost no net resistance which meant Saint Jo hitters had free reign during that time.
The Lady Panthers won each set pretty easily, with the scores being 25-17, 25-17 and 25-19.
This set up the match with Harrold the team had been anticipating. The Lady Hornets had been at or near the top of the state standings since the beginning of the season.
Harrold had so much respect it had even played bigger local schools this season, beating Bowie in straight sets and Nocona in five sets during its pre-district schedule.
The two teams had met earlier in the season when the Lady Hornets attended Saint Jo’s hosted tournament. The two teams met in the tournament championship where Harrold won 2-1.
Still, with the tournament format being a best of three instead of five and the match after playing an exhausting schedule of five matches the previous two days, that result was not gospel, especially two months later.
The challenge is Harrold had multiple big hitters at the net, which is a big deal since most 1A teams are lucky to have one or two, which meant constant pressure on Saint Jo’s defense.
This also meant the Lady Panthers constantly had to find ways to attack the Lady Hornet defense as well or it would face strong hit after strong hit which was unsustainable for any team.
The first set saw the Lady Hornets get out to a good start before the Lady Panthers rallied back and took a little lead 8-7. Unfortunately, it started turn from there.
Harrold had some good runs from the service line that Saint Jo struggled to make much offense out of and led to the Lady Hornets pulling away. Harrold won 4-1 to get the lead to 11-9 and then extended it to 14-11, 17-13. Another 4-1 run and the Lady Hornets could smell the end of the first set coming.
The Lady Hornets won 25-17 to take the lead 1-0.
Saint Jo needed to bounce back, but unfortunately never got anything going in set two.
Harrold led 4-1 and then 8-2. The Lady Panthers would have needed a huge run at some point from the service line to get back into the set, but it never came as the Lady Hornets lead grew more and more.
Harrold took set two 25-13 to go up 2-0 and had all of the momentum.
Saint Jo had its back against the wall, knowing the only option was to hope for a comeback that would lead to a fifth set, but to get there it needed to win set three.
The Lady Panthers initially started on the right foot. After falling being 4-1 to start the previous two sets, it was Saint Jo that started well up 4-1. Unfortunately, the Lady Hornets came roaring back, going on an 8-2 run as it led 9-6, then 12-8 and 15-10.
It looked like it was heading towards a similar place as set one with Harrold slowly running away with the set before the Lady Panthers made one last gasp.
Saint Jo eventually cut the lead down to one point, trailing 20-19 as the set entered the final stretch and the Lady Panthers had their best momentum of the match.
Unfortunately, it was Harrold that was able to close the set out with momentum, earning the final five points to win 25-19 and the match 3-0.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News. For pictures from Friday’s match, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6870620&T=1

The Nocona Lady Indians lost in the regional final on Saturday for the second straight season, falling one game from the state tournament.
Wink won 3-0 in a tough match the Lady Indians just could not turn their way.
Nocona came into the match after three one-sided playoff wins, though the previous match against Forsan ended dramatically with a comeback in set four.
Wink came in with 39 wins, but there was hope the Lady Indians more difficult schedule might give them an advantage. The Lady Cats had the advantage of having Aizlyn Dewberry as their middle-blocker who could play all the way around.
The first set was competitive up until the midway point as neither team got three points or more ahead. Nocona led 13-12, but then Wink went on an 8-2 run to open the set up and led 20-15.
Even as the Lady Indians played better, it was not enough to make up the deficit as the Lady Cats won 25-21, with that stretch making the difference.
Nocona tried to maximize when Dewberry was in rotation in the back row since she would more likely be less involved in the attack and also away from the net on defense. The thing was, it was difficult to get balls down against Wink since the Lady Cats team proved to be solid in all aspects.
The second set did not start well for Nocona which put the Lady Indians on the defensive even as they stayed within range of two to three points.
Wink extended its lead to 17-13 and it looked like it might start to pull away. Instead Nocona fought back within one point, down 19-18 and hoping it could ride the momentum to snag the lead and control of the set.
Instead, the Lady Cats won six of the next eight points as they closed out the set strong, winning 25-20 and leading 2-0.
The Lady Indians knew they now needed to complete a five-set comeback if they wanted to win the match. To do that, they would first need to win set three to extend the match.
The opening 20 points were competitive and back and forth as both teams exchanged leads, though Wink established a small 11-9 lead. Then the Lady Cats went on an 8-2 run to extend the lead to 19-11 and the end was near.
Nocona tried to climb back as it outplayed Wink the rest of the set, but it was not enough to make up an eight-point deficit. The Lady Cats won 25-18 to secure the victory 3-0.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News. For more pictures from the match, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6870622&T=1