SPORTS
Nocona loses at the buzzer 53-51
Coming off a tournament championship run at Alvord, the Nocona Lady Indians faced a tough challenge against Ponder at home on Tuesday.
The Lady Lions wore thin the six-girl rotation of the Lady Indians, winning with a shot at the buzzer 53-51.
Nocona got off to a great start in the game. The never ending press defense and constantly lineup changers from Ponder did not affect the Lady Indians early on. Cousins Trystin Fenoglio and Averee Kleinhans seemed to easily play keep-away making it up the court against the press and even used the aggressiveness against them.
Kleinhans early and often found Kylie Rose streaking down the court and made long outlet passes to her ahead of the defense. Rose responded with several layups and three made three-pointers, outscoring the Lady Lions in the first quarter by herself with 15 points.
Nocona led 24-12 after the first quarter and string of high scoring games from the tournament looked like it might continue.
Unfortunately, Ponder’s defense picked up the intensity the rest of the game and slowly climbed back while the Lady Indians white hot offensive performance in the first quarter came back down to earth for the rest of the game.
The game was a physical, muddy affair with bodies hitting the floor for loose balls constantly for the rest of the game. Nocona had trouble keeping the Lady Lions from getting offensive rebounds, which led to many second chance points. Ponder had cut the lead to 32-24 at halftime.
The fatigue really started to show for the Lady Indians in the second half. Uncharacteristic mistakes started to happen. Breaking the press, which seemed trivial in the first quarter, became a momentous task as the game wore on and produced turnovers. Simple dribble handoffs from the Lady Lions produced uncontested layups. Wide open three-pointers were missed.
Nocona scored enough to keep its lead, but the double digit lead it had after the first quarter was down to one score 41-38 heading into the fourth quarter.
Early on Ponder took the lead and held a 51-46 lead with a little more than two minutes left in the game.
The Lady Indians found its second wind with their back against the wall. Kleinhans made some free throws to cut the lead to 51-48.
The Lady Lions ran a minute off the clock as Nocona had to foul them three times before they were in the bonus to shoot free throws.
Ponder missed and Kleinhans came down and made a three-pointer to tie the game with 37 seconds left.
Nocona’s defense came up big again as it forced a turnover and called a time out with 17 seconds left with a chance to win the game.
The Lady Indians passed ahead of the press quickly and dribbled into the lane hoping to draw contact on a shot. The quick hands put the ball on the floor and a mad scramble to secure it.
Ponder did and raced up the floor, though the transition defense of Nocona cut her off as the rest of the players ran up the court.
She passed it to a teammate at the top of the key, who had room to her left to drive into the lane before pulling for a short contested shot. The ball went in as time ran out, securing the Lady Lions a 53-51 win.
Nocona plays at the Aledo tournament this weekend before traveling to Melissa to play 6:15 p.m. on Dec. 17.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
Saint Jo boys
The Saint Jo Panthers were able to win a one-sided game at Dodd City on Tuesday.
The Panthers won 41-22 against the Hornets as they try and ramp back up after the holidays to get ready for district play.
Saint Jo had an up and down performance at its tournament in North Hopkins the previous week as it tries to get the rust off caused by the holiday break.
The first quarter was competitive as the Panthers got scoring from four different players. Saint Jo held Dodd City to only one field goal, but several free throws allowed the Hornets to trail only 12-7 after the first quarter.
The Panther defense cleaned up the fouling while continuing to make any shot an easy one for Dodd City. This allowed Saint Jo to grow its lead as the game went along.
The Panthers allowed the Hornets to never score more than eight points in a quarter while they scored modestly in the double-digits in three of the quarters.
Saint Jo led 22-11 at halftime, 34-19 after three quarters before allowing only three points in the final period to make it 41-22.
Nocona girls
The Nocona Lady Indians stayed undefeated in district with a blowout win at home against Windthorst on Tuesday.
The Lady Indians beat the Lady Trojans 78-27 in a game that was not close at all.
Nocona came into the game confident with, easily winning its first three district games before the holiday break before playing several tough teams at the Championship Basketball Tournament last week where it went 2-2.
The Lady Indians were up 15-8 after the first quarter and 33-17 at halftime. Despite leading by double-digits, Nocona upped its intensity in the second half by outscoring Windthorst 24-3 in the third quarter.
The Lady Indians scored 21 points in the fourth quarter to end the game with the ludicrous score of 78-27.
Nocona boys
The Nocona Indians lost their first district game of the season, losing a tough game at home against Windthorst.
The Trojans won 63-52 in a game where one bad quarter from the Indians was all it took.
Nocona came into the game after starting district 1-0 with a win against Olney before the break. The Indians struggled in their holiday tournament last week in Bridgeport, but it was mostly against bigger schools.
It was a low-scoring first quarter as Nocona led only 9-7, but were in control.
Then the second quarter came and the Trojans flipped the game on its head.
Windthorst exploded for 26 points, scored all by three of its players as the low-scoring game was burst open.
On the flip side, the Indians scored only eight points while making one field goal in the quarter. Nocona found itself down 33-17 at halftime.
The Indians bounced back a little in the third quarter, outscoring the Trojans 14-11 to make it 47-31 heading into the final period.
The fourth quarter was high scoring for both team. Nocona easily had its best offensive quarter, with 21 points scored as six different players made at least one basket.
Unfortunately, the Indians could not slow down Windthorst to try and make a comeback. The Trojans attempted 17 free throws in the period alone and made enough of them to nearly equal Nocona’s total, finishing with 19 points.
Windthorst won 62-53.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
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