SPORTS
Lady Rabbits complete comeback win against the Lady Eagles
In the closest game of district play so far, the Bowie Lady Rabbits on Tuesday pulled out a one point victory against Holliday in the final seconds in front of Bowie’s loudest home crowd they have played before all season.
Coming back from as many as 14 points down, the Lady Rabbits won 44-43 thanks to a made free throw from Aslyn Davis with 3.2 seconds left to play to improve to 4-0 in district play and an early look at first place.
That was the end of the game though. To start the game, the Lady Eagles came into the game with something to prove. Having lost the previous game to district favorite Nocona by the score of 61-35, Holliday came out swinging to start the game.
Quickly, Bowie’s zone defense was exploited as the Lady Eagles made two three-pointers and led 8-0 in the first two minutes. The Lady Rabbits switched to man-to-man that slowed Holliday’s offense down by limiting good looks from the perimeter.
Unfortunately, Bowie’s offense was struggling to create any goo shots against the Lady Eagles zone defense. Wanting to get the ball inside, but not able to, the Lady Rabbits ended up settling for a jump shots which is not their strength. Holliday led 12-5 heading into the second quarter.
It was more of the same in the second quarter. In every facet, Bowie was getting outplayed as the Lady Eagles lead grew. Some badly thrown steals led to easy points the other way for Holliday as the Lady Rabbits continued to struggle offensively.
It looked like the Lady Eagles were going to take a double digit 26-13 lead into halftime, but Bowie was able to score a couple quick baskets thanks to forcing steals with their press defense, something they had not been able to use since they could not score. The Lady Rabbits cut the lead under double digits, but still trailed 26-17 at halftime.
Needing a complete game turnaround not just on the court, but in energy, Bowie needed to come out of halftime and play with much more fire and passion then they played with in the first half, but early on it looked like more of the same.
Holliday made a three-pointer and scored another basket to go up 31-17 in the first minute of the third quarter. It looked like fans were about to see more of the same for another half as the Lady Rabbits let a game get away from them, but something happened.
The Lady Eagles had been sloppy with the ball all game, sometimes self inflicted, but they were the type of turnovers Bowie, who does not play too fast anyway, could take advantage of to score.
The press had been effective when they used it, but the Lady Rabbits needed to score to set it up and they never really got themselves going from using it in the first half.
Some sort of energy changed in Bowie as they executed offense to get shots they wanted to take and not settling.
They found leading scorer Hope Howard inside and when she finally got her hands on the ball, no one from Holliday could deny her from scoring. Held scoreless in the first half, Howard made up for lost time scoring a game high 13 points.
Another thing happened as the Lady Rabbits started to furiously crash the offensive glass as the Lady Eagles zone defense meant they had trouble boxing out Bowie. Some possessions for the Lady Rabbits had two, three, four shots. Then after scoring, Holliday would have to face a press defense that was playing with much more passion.
All of this led to Bowie cutting the lead to 34-30 heading into the fourth quarter with all the momentum they could want. It only took a little more than a minute to grab the lead. Midway through the fourth, the Lady Rabbits led 39-36, but the Lady Eagles would not go away. Out of a timeout, despite Coach Chuck Hall warning his team it was coming, Holliday hit a corner three-pointer to tie the game at 39-39.
From there it was on. The teams quickly traded baskets on their next two possessions as they scored from the post. Bowie took the lead on their next possession as Jayci Logan, who finished with 12 points, missed a mid-range shot but followed her shot and put on the offensive rebound to go up 43-41 with a little more than two minutes to go.
After playing defense, the Lady Rabbits were able to run a lot of time off the clock before the Lady Eagles fouled Davis. With a chance to make it a two score game, Davis missed the first free throw in the one and one scenario.
Holliday immediately pushed the ball and scored on a contested layup to tie the score 43-43 with 21 seconds left. Bowie was able to work the ball to Davis who put up a contested floater over a defender, who was called for a foul to send her to the free throw line for two shots with 3.2 seconds left, giving her a chance at redemption.
Davis missed the first shot off the back rim. With Davis’ last chance to get her team the win sans a miracle shot from the Lady Eagles, Davis swished the next free throw to give the Lady Rabbits a 44-43 lead. Holliday’s heave at the buzzer, taken just in front of the half court line from the right side, sailed wide to give Bowie the much needed win.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
Nocona
The Nocona Indians picked up dominant wins against Chico in their series against the Dragons last week.
The Indians won both games 11-0 by run-rule after five innings to get their first district wins of the season.
Nocona was coming off losing both games against Lindsay the previous week in its first district series and bounced back in a big way.
In the first game at home last week, the Indians scored six runs in the first inning and five in the third inning which proved to be all the offense they needed.
Kutter Cabrera led the team with three RBIs while Miller Jentry was second with two RBIs. The team finished with nine hits and drew eight walks.
On the mound, Walker Murphey pitched a shut out while striking out seven and allowing three hits. Defensively, the team committed one fielding error.
The second game saw Nocona score all of its runs in the first three innings, highlighted by scoring six runs in the second inning.
Murphey hit a three-run home run to lead the team while Brody Langford and Landon Fatheree each had two RBIs.
On the mound RJ Walker had a big day, throwing a perfect four innings which means he did not allow a hit or walk anyone. He also struck out eight batters, which put him over 100 career strikeouts in high school. The defense committed no fielding errors.
Saint Jo
The Saint Jo Panthers lost their series against Bryson last week.
The first game was a close 3-0 loss, but the second game was 11-0, done after four and half innings due to run-rule.
The Panthers were coming off close losses to Perrin-Whitt from the previous week. They were hoping they could turn their fortune around playing another 1A program.
Unfortunately in the first game, the Cowboys got off to a good start, scoring three runs in the first inning, with two coming with two outs due to an error and a dropped third strike.
Saint Jo’s pitching and defense tightened up after that to not allow another run in the final six innings. Unfortunately, the Panthers had only two hits and four base runners all game as they lost the close game 3-0.
Charlie Evans and Rylan Forrest had the only two hits for Saint Jo in the game as the team struck out 18 times. Trent Gaston ended the game allowing three runs (one earned) on six hits while striking out five batters and walking two in six innings of work. The defense committed five fielding errors.
Unfortunately, things did not go as well several days later in game two. Bryson scored three runs in both the first and second innings before scoring five runs in the third inning. Saint Jo was not able to get a hit and drew two walks in the game.
The Panther defense committed six fielding errors which led to only three of the 11 runs given up were earned by the pitching staff who gave up five hits, walked six and hit four batters.
Bellevue
The Bellevue Eagles played Perrin-Whitt last week in a series.
The Pirates won the first game 11-1 by run-rule and the second game score was not updated on Game Changer.
The Eagles were coming off one-sided losses to Bryson the previous week in their first district series and was hoping to play better.
Bellevue did get out to an early lead in the first inning. River Trail hit an RBI single in the top of the first inning to go up 1-0, which proved to be the highlight of the game.
Perrin-Whitt scored three runs in the first inning, one in the second inning, two in the fourth inning and five in the fifth inning to win 11-1.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
Saint Jo
The Saint Jo Lady Panthers picked up a high-scoring win against Perrin-Whitt on Thursday to get their second straight district win and some revenge.
The Lady Panthers won 35-20 against the Lady Pirates, nearly equaling the total when both programs played on the gridiron during the fall.
Saint Jo was coming off a big win the previous week against Bryson, but had lost the last time it played Perrin-Whitt by 10 runs in another high-scoring game.
The Lady Panthers did not start the game off well, allowing 11 runs in the top of the first inning before they had even gotten a chance to bat yet.
Most teams would crumble, but Saint Jo fought back slowly at first before picking things up.
The Lady Panthers scored three runs in the first inning to cut the lead to 11-3.
Perrin-Whitt added four more runs in the second inning to go up 15-3, which in most games is insurmountable.
Saint Jo answered with eight runs in the bottom of the second inning, cutting the lead to 15-11.
The Lady Pirates scored five runs in the third inning and went up by nine runs 20-11. Then the Lady Panthers had a monster offensive inning that went on for awhile.
Saint Jo scored 18 runs in the third inning, not only getting its first lead, but going up by nearly double-digits 29-20.
The Lady Panthers had the momentum and it showed on defense in the fourth inning, allowing no runs for the first time all game by either team.
Saint Jo then went for the kill, scoring six runs to end the game early due to run-rule with the final score being 35-20.
Mercedes Diaz led the team with seven RBIs as she hit one of the two home runs for the Lady Panthers, with the other going to Lily Cook. Maxey Johnson was right behind with six RBIs and Kamron Skidmore had four.
Nocona
The Nocona Lady Indians started the second round of district with a dominant win against Era on Monday.
The Lady Indians won 16-0 after four innings, winning by run-rule against the Lady Hornets.
Nocona went 3-2 in the first round of district, only losing to big dogs Lindsay and Muenster. The first time the Lady Indians had played Era, it had been a close 5-2 win for Nocona so the team knew it had to come to play.
The Lady Indians started off well, scoring five runs in the first inning to take the early lead. Nocona added three runs during the next two innings to go up 8-0 as the Lady Indian defense shut down the Lady Hornets.
Nocona then went for the kill, scoring eight runs in the fourth inning to end the game early, winning 16-0.
Reagan Phipps and Tinley Cable each had home runs. Phipps had a team high three RBIs while Cable, Heidi Atteberry and Gwyndelyn Forsyth each finished with two RBIs.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
-
NEWS2 years ago2 hurt, 1 jailed after shooting incident north of Nocona
-
NEWS1 year agoSuspect indicted, jailed in Tia Hutson murder
-
NEWS2 years agoSO investigating possible murder/suicide
-
NEWS2 years agoWreck takes the life of BHS teen, 16
-
NEWS2 years agoMurder unsolved – 1 year later Tia Hutson’s family angry, frustrated with no arrest
-
NEWS2 years ago
Sheriff’s office called out to infant’s death
-
NEWS2 years agoBowie Police face three-hour standoff after possible domestic fight
-
NEWS2 years ago
Driver stopped by a man running into the street, robbed at knifepoint