SPORTS
Lady Indians wins program’s first playoff game in eight years, 74-36
Even though things are supposed to be hard in the playoffs, the Nocona Lady Indians made it look easy as they took down Breckenridge on Monday in Mineral Wells in their opening bi-district game.
There was not much suspense after the opening minutes of the first quarter as the Lady Indians ran all over the Lady Bucks 74-36.
Those opening minutes saw Breckenridge establish what they were going to try and do. They wanted to drive the ball and into the paint and then pass the ball to an open shooter on the perimeter. Like most teams, they looked to double Nocona’s leading scorer Averee Kleinhans and deny her the ball on defense.
An early 5-2 lead from the Lady Bucks was all the good Breckenridge had before the Lady Indians got rolling.
Pushing the ball off of rebounds and turnovers, Nocona was able to create early scoring opportunities that built momentum. With the Lady Indians sinking a few three-pointers and finishing fast breaks, the scoring pace completely got the Lady Bucks out of their comfort zone and the turnovers just increased.
Nocona finished the first quarter on a 15-0 run as they led 17-5 heading into the second quarter. From there things never slowed down.
With Kleinhans scoring 13 points in the first quarter, Breckenridge tried to deny her the ball on out of bounds plays and pressing her with two defenders.
This did not seem to affect her at all as she was able to use her size to catch the ball over her defenders and dribble circles around them, creating a five-on-three scenario that was primed to get a good look.
With the offense in full swing and the score getting out of hand, the Lady Indians did not hold back as the second half saw them put up 24 points. Speared on by Kleinhans, who had 30 points at halftime, Nocona led 41-15.
The second half saw the Lady Indians continue to score at will. With the win in hand Coach Kyle Spitzer started to split Kleinhans and Trystin Fenoglio’s time on the court together so each could lead the offense as the press defense did not work on Fenoglio either.
Even with the margin getting bigger and bigger, the energy never fully went out of Nocona. Untill the very end, they were diving on the floor for loose balls and giving effort on defense.
In a game with little competitive merit it is easy for these things to lose importance to the players on either side, but both teams fought hard until the end. The Lady Indians won 74-36.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
Bowie had six players play in the Maskat Shrine Oil Bowl football all-star game. For pictures from not just the football game, but the basketball and volleyball games as well that feature athletes from Bowie, Nocona and Saint Jo, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6875584&T=1
Nocona is welcoming back Coach Sandy Langford, former coach and alumnus for the Lady Indians, as its new volleyball head coach.
Langford comes back to Nocona after spending the past 11 years leading the Glen Rose volleyball program.
Her circumstances with her family allowed her to jump at the opportunity once she became aware the position at Nocona was available.
“My youngest graduated and is playing football at Midwestern (State University),” Langford said. “All of our family is here and I knew that Coach Kara (Lucherk) was leaving. We were eventually going to retire here. Our oldest son plays college football at West Texas A&M and we’ll be two hours closer to him as well.”
She again will lead the Lady Indians volleyball program, one that she led all the way to the state title game in 2011, which is the farthest the volleyball program has ever gone in its prestigious history.
Langford kept up that level of success during her 11 years at the bigger 4A Glen Rose. She won less than 20 games only twice during her time, winning her 500th career game back in 2023. Her teams were ranked among the top 10 in the state five times and Langford led Glen Rose to the state tournament in 2017, the best finish in program history.
With the Lady Indians also having its own string of success, appearing in back-to-back regional finals while finishing atop the district standings both years, Langford is excited to not just keep the success going, but shoot for the stars.
“We are not expecting anything less than a state championship,” Langford said.
She has stacked the non-district schedule with strong, state-ranked 3A and 4A teams as well as big tournaments that will test Nocona’s mettle early next season in the hopes it will prepare them for a long playoff run.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
The Red River High School Bass Club competed this past weekend, May 31 – June 1, at the State Tournament on Lake Conroe for the two-day tournament.
Two of the teams from Montague County traveled south to try their best at the culmination of the year for the state title. Teams were able to pre-fish on Friday before the Saturday and Sunday competition. On Friday, there was a flipping contest for the youth and Cooper Johnson won third overall and won a $500 scholarship and an Academy gift card.
The club’s two teams who competed were Lane Smith/Colt Henry with boat captain Jimmy Smith. The team placed 63rd with a total of 16.22 pounds. The second team of Cooper Johnson/Corbyn Patton and boat captain Jayson Toerck placed 169th with a total weight of 2.29 pounds.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
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