SPORTS
Lady Rabbits win high scoring game
The Bowie Lady Rabbits closed out the pre-Christmas slate with a 70-61 win against the Lindsay Lady Knights on their home court Friday afternoon.
Despite the Lady Rabbits coming out on top in the high scoring matchup, it wasn’t all smooth sailing as changes in the Lindsay offense throughout the game forced Bowie to adapt their defensive strategy.
Lindsay’s full court press at the start of the game was aimed at getting the ball to their big post player, but Bowie was able to guide the press and hurt the visiting team as they ended the first quarter ahead 16-13.
The two teams matched each other point for point in the second with the Lady Rabbit’s taller players the only ones able to answer against the Lindsay defense as Aslyn Davis put up five points, Hope Howard, six, and Lexi Kirkham and Landra Parr, two each. However, the Lady Knights put up 19 points of their own to force the Lady Rabbits to head into the locker room at halftime trailing by one.
“We played sort of like our season has been. I think we were really up and down. There were times we did a lot of things that were good as a group and individually, but I don’t think we ever put it all together,” explained Bowie Lady Rabbits Coach Chuck Hall. “It caused the game to be closer than it should have been.”
The coach gave credit to the Lady Knights and their style of play.
“If you can handle their style of play you can score a lot of points, but if you don’t, they can keep themselves in the game because of their big girls,” explained Hall.
However, the Lady Knights had other tricks up their sleeves than just their size advantage. The Lady Rabbits focused on the bigger post players and were able to edge out to a seven-point lead with six minutes to go in the third quarter, but unfortunately it didn’t last.
Lindsay began shooting from the outside and Bowie’s Aslyn Davis, who was the second leading scorer of the night with 17 points, went out temporarily with an ankle injury as the Lady Knights crept back into the game, wrapping up the third quarter tied 48-48.
“When we got them down we had focused so much on their big girl, then all of a sudden they started making three pointers and outside shots so their comeback was not because of their big girl, their comeback was because of their guards. We had to stop and readjust again and play different defensively,” said Hall.
The game wasn’t doomed for the Lady Rabbits, who had something up their sleeve as well, and that something was Abbi Gamblin.
Coming from seemingly nowhere after not scoring a single point in the first half, Gamblin sank nine points in the third, including one three-point shot, and another 10 points in the fourth with her second three to lead the Lady Rabbit offense with 19 points. Together with a solid defense, the Lady Rabbits were able to cruise to the largest lead of the game and seal the win 65-59.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
SPORTS
Bowie Basketball Interview
SPORTS
Two Bowie graduates play in PGA University Championship
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.
SPORTS
Lady Panthers fall in the regional final
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
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