In their final game before the Christmas break, the Bowie Jackrabbits hosted Wichita Falls High School on Friday.
In a tight game that went down to the wire, a Riley Harris three-pointer in the final seconds was the difference to give the Jackrabbits a 46-45 win.
Bowie started the game on a great note, scoring the game’s first 11 points in the first three minutes. The Jackrabbits led 16-7 after the first quarter.
Bowie was getting some good looks in transition after turnovers and rebounds. The energy from both the team and crowd was great to start.
The Coyotes slowly started to get back in the game as they put together a solid second quarter. The Jackrabbits offense struggled to score while Wichita Falls made up some ground. Bowie led 22-18 at halftime.
The Jackrabbits tried to shake up some things in the third quarter to try and keep their energy up. They started to press a bit and was able to keep the little bit of lead for most of the quarter leading 27-23.
With less than four minutes to go in the quarter, the Coyotes came back to tie the score up at 32-32 heading into the fourth quarter.
It was back and forth as Bowie scored the first four points before Wichita Falls came back to gain its first lead of the game 39-38 with 3:40 left in the game.
The Jackrabbits Harris came down and immediately made a three-pointer to take back the lead, but the Coyotes tied it at 41-41 with 2:31 left.
The teams exchanged baskets to make it 43-43, but Bowie would miss its next shot. Wichita Falls pushed the ball following the rebound and pulled up from 15-feet in transition to make a shot, putting the Coyotes up 45-43 with 42 seconds left.
The Jackrabbits called a time out and made the decision to try and hunt for the perfect shot. The ball was passed all around as Bowie was trying not to settle for a good look, but a great one. The ball touched every players hand at least twice as the ball kept moving.
With eight seconds left, the ball found Harris open in the corner from three-point range. He let it fly and the ball went in to give the Jackrabbits a one-point lead 46-45.
With eight seconds left, Wichita Falls still had a chance to win the game. Near midcourt, Braden Armstrong poked the ball out of bounds with 2.7 seconds left. After multiple timeouts, the Coyotes got a desperate shot off that was not too close as Bowie won 46-45.
Cade Thompson led the Jackrabbits with 15 points and fives assists. Harris scored 13 points and also had five assists.
Bowie next plays at the Whataburger tournament against Burkburnett at noon at Chisholm Trail High School on Dec. 27.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.