SPORTS
Panthers season comes to an end

The roller coaster came to an end for the Saint Jo boy’s basketball team as the Panthers went up against one of the top teams in the state in the regional quarterfinals on March 25 in Bridgeport.
The Panthers were eventually overwhelmed by Graford, which kept pouring it on as the final score of 89-51, but the game was a bit more competitive through the first three quarters.
Saint Jo came out focused and ready to take things to the Jackrabbits, who featured large and bouncy six-foot-five-inch player Xavier Harrison in the post they knew they had to stop.
The usual pressing Panthers instead dropped back into a tight two-three zone defense. Graford initially tried to drive to the basket and could not convert on the tough layups.
Offensively from the opening possession, Saint Jo’s Preston Lyons was ready to play. A tough and contested mid-range shot went in. A contested three-pointer went in. A back door play to Blake Anderson opened up a 6-0 lead in the first two and half minutes into the game.
Besides scoring, Lyons helped out in other ways. The overzealous defender guarding him picked up two technicals directed at him and was kicked from the game in the second quarter.
It did not take long for the Jackrabbits to wake up. With Saint Jo crashing for offensive rebounds, Graford was able to score several transition baskets by beating the defense back, with ally-oops off the backboard and dunks from Harrison really getting the Jackrabbits going. In the next two minutes Graford took the lead 9-8 and led 16-13 heading into the second quarter.
In the first quarter it seemed like the Jackrabbits were hesitant to take any of the open three-pointers as they focused on trying to get the ball inside to Harrison. In the second quarter they started to shoot and make some three-pointers as the lead started to get away from Saint Jo. The Jackrabbits lead had grown to 29-18 the first two and half minutes into the quarter.
Offensively, the Panthers tried to drive hard to the basket against the Harrison, who had a penchant for getting into foul trouble all season.
On Monday, Saint Jo had no such luck as shot after shot was turned away as Harrison did his best to go straight up with both arms to not draw fouls.
Only Lyons was able to make a few of his crazy shots go in while the other points came at the free throw trips the Panthers were able to draw, with the fouls largely coming from other defenders. Graford’s point guard did get into foul trouble, but it did not seem to matter as the Jackrabbits lead grew to 41-25 at halftime.
The Panthers started the third quarter strong with five back-to-back baskets to cut the lead to 41-30, in the first minute and half. Unfortunately, that would be as close as they would get for the rest of the game.
Even with Saint Jo changing its defense to man-to-man to try and limit the perimeter shots, it opened up driving lanes for Graford to get the ball to the basket.
Also, transition opportunities were still getting taken advantage of as the Panthers six-man rotation wore down as the lead grew back to 58-40 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Panthers never gave up trying, but with time running down and the lead growing, the shots on offense became reckless. Pull up threes and futile drives to the basket after minimal ball movement led to easy baskets in transition.
There was a brief couple minutes where Saint Jo put on the full-court press and trap defense they played all year that worked when they surprised Graford with it, but once they figured it out the Jackrabbits easily exploited it with easy baskets on the back end.
The lead grew and grew until Coach Michael Wheeler called off his starters and put in his bench for the final two and half minutes.
Graford followed suit, but their bench poured on 11 more points to grow the lead to the final score of 89-51.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
SPORTS
Bowie track runs at Peaster in final meet before district

The Bowie track team competed in its final meet before district last week on March 27 at Peaster.
The boy’s team finished fourth overall while the girl’s team got seventh place.
The boy’s team had three athletes who won their events.
Russell Anderson won the 400 meter race, Braden Rhyne won the triple jump and Tyler Richey won the pole vault events.
Some other highlights for the team included Cody West getting second in the shot put, the 4×400 relay team getting second place, Richey getting fourth in the 110 meter hurdles, Rhyne getting third in the 300 meter hurdles and Jorge De Leon getting fourth in both the discus and shot put.
Brayden Willett got second place in the 3200 meters, third place in the 1600 meters and fourth place in the 800 meter race.
The Lady Rabbit highlights included Dallie Monroe getting fourth in the shot put, Laney Segura getting fifth in the 800 meters and Olivia Richey getting sixth in the 100 meters.
The 4×200 relay got fifth place and the 4×100 relay got sixth place to earn points.
Bowie competes in the district rack meet this week at Iowa Park. The running finals are scheduled for 5 p.m. on April 4.
Results for all Bowie varsity athletes who finished sixth or better are in the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
SPORTS
Montague County has nine named all-region basketball players

Nocona’s Meg Meekins (above) not only earned all-region honors, she also earned all-state honors and was named the Texas Girls Coaches Association 1A-4A Player of the Year.
Other Montague County basketball athletes who were named to all-region teams including Rayder Mann from Bowie and Reagan Phipps from Nocona. From Saint Jo, Payzlie Cervantes, Taylor Patrick and Barrett Johnson were named to the all-region team. From Forestburg, Jesus Sanchez, Brenna Briles and Kyler Willett were named to the all-region team.
For pictures of all nine athletes, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
SPORTS
Baseball Roundup

Saint Jo
The Saint Jo Panthers lost a close game at home against Perrin-Whitt on March 28.
The Pirates won 8-3, only taking the lead in the seventh inning after the Panthers had come back to tie up the game.
Saint Jo was coming into the game after a close one-run loss in extra innings against Perrin-Whitt earlier last week.
The second game started with two scoreless innings before the Pirates got on the board in the third inning. A line drive into left field resulted in a fielding error that allowed one run to score. A double followed that drove in another run as Perrin-Whitt went up 2-0.
The Pirates added to the lead in the fourth inning, driving in a run on a single to extend its lead to 3-0.
Saint Jo answered back in the same inning. Charlie Evans drove in one run with a single. Later in the inning, with a runners on second on third base, the Perrin-Whitt pitcher balked twice, an illegal pitching motion, that allowed both runners to advance to home plate. The Panthers had tied the score at 3-3.
After a scoreless fifth and sixth inning, the Pirates had the pressure on in the seventh inning.
With the bases loaded, a hit batter and later a walk scored two runs for Perrin-Whitt. Then a bases clearing double scored three more runs to break the game open in the final inning.
Saint Jo tried to answer in its final at-bats, getting two singles and drawing a walk but could not get enough things going to score.
The Pirates won 8-3.
Evans led the team with one RBI and two hits as the team finished with five hits and drew six walks.
Sam Martin allowed eight runs (two earned) on seven hits while striking out six and walking three batters in 6.2 innings of work. The defense committed three fielding errors overall.
Nocona
The Nocona Indians had a tough start to district last week, losing both games in their series against Lindsay.
The Knights won 11-4 and 7-3 against the Indians last week as Nocona hopes to get back into the playoffs.
Nocona was coming off a string of good wins the previous week against smaller schools, but knew Lindsay would be tough.
The first game saw Lindsay continually score runs in the first four innings, building a 9-0 lead before the Indians could get on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning with two runs.
Nocona added two more runs in the fifth inning to cut the lead to 9-4 and get some momentum heading into the final two innings.
After a scoreless sixth inning, the Knights scored two runs in the seventh inning to extend their lead and eventually win 11-4.
Miller Jentry led the team with two RBIs while RJ Walker also drove in two runs. The team had only two hits, but drew nine walks in the game.
Brody Langford allowed six runs (two earned) on five hits while striking out three in three innings pitches. Landon Fatheree allowed five runs (two earned) on seven hits while striking out one and walking four. The defense committed five fielding errors.
Nocona knew it could play better and tried to in the second game later in the week while playing on the road at Lindsay.
The Knights again took the early lead, scoring in three of the first four innings and going up 6-0. The Indians scored two runs in the fifth inning and one in the top of the sixth inning to initially cut the lead to 6-3. Lindsay answered with one run in the bottom of the sixth inning and held on to win 7-3.
Walker Murphey led the team with two RBIs after hit a double. Kutter Cabrera drove in the other run for Nocona. The Indians finished with three hits and drew only two walks, making the most of their limited opportunities.
Walker got the start on the mound and allowed seven runs (two earned) on eight hits while striking out six batters and walking two in six innings of work. The defense committed six fielding errors overall.
Bellevue
The Bellevue Eagles started district last week playing a series against fellow 1A team Bryson.
Unfortunately, the Cowboys won both games handily 11-1 and 10-1.
Bellevue was coming off a tough week where it hung tough playing 2A teams Nocona and Chico, not getting wins but competing well against the more experienced and bigger schools.
Unfortunately against Bryson in the first game, a few bad defensive innings threw away a good start to the game. Bryce Ramsey drew a leadoff walk in the first inning and stole his way around to second base, third base before eventually coming home on a steal.
Bellevue led 1-0 after the first inning.
That was the highlight as the Cowboys scored four runs in both the third and fourth inning to take control of the game. Bryson eventually added three more in the sixth inning.
The Eagles needed to score at least one run to avoid getting run-ruled and play the seventh inning, but could not do it. The Cowboys won 11-1.
Walker Strahan, Ryan Jones and Ramsey each had one hit to lead the team. With the Eagles drawing only one walk, it was a tough day swinging the bats for Bellevue.
Defensively, the Eagles allowed 12 hits and walked four batters, though avoided committing any fielding errors.
The second game on the road was not much better.
Bryson built up a 6-0 lead before Bellevue scored in the fifth inning. Cam Blaylock scored on the base paths to cut the lead to 6-1. The Cowboys responded in the same inning scoring four runs to go up 10-1.
The game cuts off on the Game Changer app from there.
Ramsey led the team with three hits in the game and Strahan was behind him with two hits as the team finished with six total and drew one walk.
Defensively, Bryson had nine hits and drew eight walks, but Bellevue did not commit any fielding errors.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
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