SPORTS
Nocona girls beat Lady Rabbits 52-44
Despite the impending snow fall that arrived the day after, the heat and intensity from the packed gym on Friday night that was past capacity was home to a showdown between rival schools and communities from Bowie and Nocona.
In the end, the home team came out victorious as the Lady Indians won 52-44 to set up a three-way tie for first place atop the district standings five games in.
Coming into the game, the Lady Rabbits were the only undefeated team left in the district, with Nocona losing on the road to Childress, a team Bowie had beaten a week earlier.
In contrast, the Lady Indians came into district play as the favorites, losing only two games throughout all of non-district play while the Lady Rabbits were more up and down, adjusting to life without a proven go-to scorer they had been use to in years past.
The game started off with the type of slow pace that favored Bowie. They took their time looking for shots and grabbed offensive rebounds to extend their possessions while Nocona’s busy hands were called for a lot of non-shooting fouls. By the end of the quarter, the Lady Rabbits were already in the bonus while the Lady Indians had eight fouls called on them.
Still, Nocona took advantage of the few offensive possessions they had, pushing the ball and looking for quick shots, with point guard Trystin Fenoglio leading the way with eight points and two made three-pointers.
With Bowie missing about half of its free throws, the Lady Indians held a slim 12-10 lead heading into the second quarter.
Thirty seconds in, disaster seemed like it might strike Nocona. All-state player and the area’s leading scorer Averee Kleinhans, who has a history of getting into foul trouble in some games, picked up her second foul. With the way the game was getting called, it seemed inevitable she would pick up her third if she stayed in and be only two away from fouling out of the game.
Lady Indian Coach Kyle Spitzer took the risk, trusting Kleinhans. He was rewarded as she scored 12 of the teams 14 points in the quarter, despite facing double teams on the perimeter. She even knocked in some deep three-point shots off the dribble despite facing double-teams.
Bowie, who had a 20-17 lead midway through the second quarter, failed to score for the rest of the quarter as Nocona led 26-20 at halftime. Two three-pointers from Taygon Jones and Abbi Gamblin in the second quarter were huge for the Lady Rabbits confidence, with three-point shooting not being a strength for them.
The third quarter was more of the type of game Bowie thrives in as they were able to cool off Kleinhans from her hot second quarter while continuing to limit anyone else in getting good looks outside of free throw attempts.
The Lady Rabbits continued to find open shots on the perimeter as Jones and Brysen Richey hit timely three-pointers when the team needed it most while Hope Howard continued her streak of being unstoppable in the post as she scored four of her team high 12 points in the quarter.
Bowie took the lead with two minutes to go and looked like they were going to head into the fourth quarter with a 32-31 lead, but Fenoglio was able to push the ball up the floor and knocked down a pull-up three-pointer at the buzzer to give Nocona a 34-32 lead to mitigate the Lady Indians worst quarter.
The first two minutes of the fourth quarter was all Lady Indians as Fenoglio and Kleinhans drew fouls at an alarming rate. While the first quarter saw a lot of fouls called on Nocona, the second half and especially the fourth quarter saw a lot of fouls called on Bowie.
With the Lady Indians in the bonus, Kleinhans and Fenoglio were making enough free throws to give Nocona’s lead a little breathing room as they led 43-35 with six minutes to play.
The Lady Rabbits could never make up the difference. While every other moment throughout the game the Lady Indians had gotten a comfortable lead, Bowie had answered back with timely runs to take the lead.
With the Nocona in the bonus, the Lady Rabbits had a hard time keeping the Lady Indians off of the free throw line as the eight point deficit did not change.
With several starters fouling out and time running out, the answer Bowie had been able to give all game never came as the Lady Indians won 52-44.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week 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.
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