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.
With the baseball and softball seasons over for the area 1A schools, district awards have been released.
Listed below are those earned honors on the field and in the classroom for Saint Jo and Bellevue.
Softball
Saint Jo
Honorable mention
Utility player: Taylor Patrick; Catcher: Jordyn O’Neal
Baseball
Superlatives
Offensive MVP: Devin Stewart, Saint Jo
Newcomer of the Year: Bryce Ramsey, Bellevue
Pitcher: Trent Gaston, Saint Jo
Outfielder: Jayden Curry, Saint Jo
Second team
Pitcher: Charlie Barclay, Saint Jo
Infielder: Brycen Bancroft, Bellevue; Sam Martin, Saint Jo
Outfielder: Rylan Forrester, Saint Jo
Catcher: Charlie Evans, Saint Jo
Utility: Logan Hoover, Saint Jo
DH: Amzy Barclay, Saint Jo
Honorable mention
Cody Gaston, Saint Jo; Xander Joyner, Saint Jo
To see academic awards from Saint Jo players, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
Eldon Van Hooser is leaving Forestburg better than he found it.
The head boy’s basketball coach is retiring after more than 30 years, spending the last five at Forestburg.
Van Hooser did not come to this decision because of a lack of fire or feeling tired after decades in the profession. He had to for family reasons.
“My wife has MS (multiple sclerosis) and it’s a disease where you have trouble standing and walking and she needs help,” Van Hooser said. “I am able to so I am going to step away from teaching and coaching to be there for her.”
Van Hooser was hired in 2019. Along with being the boy’s basketball coach, he also was the football team’s defensive coordinator.
There were some lean years for Forestburg on the boy’s athletic side, with numbers being low and the available athletes being mostly underclassmen.
For two years, the Longhorns’ boy’s basketball team won few games and one of those seasons saw the team field five players on the high school team.
“One of those years we had COVID-19 and the other we had five kids,” Van Hooser said. “It was very rough. After that we worked with the kids and we had a good freshman group coming up. Next year they are going to be seniors.”
That group has helped to turn the program around. Last year the young Longhorns team contested for a playoff spot and just barely missed it finishing fifth in the district.
This season, that same group took a leap and finished second in district with a record of 7-5.
Despite losing its last two regular season games in dramatic fashion heading into the playoffs, the team stepped up in the bi-district game.
Playing against an athletic Newcastle team, Forestburg led for most of the game.
Unfortunately, the previous game against Bellevue saw the Longhorn team blow the lead late in the fourth quarter against a hard pressing style team and they were suffering the same fate against the Bobcats down the stretch.
Fortunately, Forestburg held on just enough to win 53-46. It was the first boy’s basketball playoff win in nine years for Forestburg.
“It was huge for our program,” Van Hooser said. “This new year we will have new goals. The new coach will have some goals of his own, but I set some for the team and think that we have come a long way.”
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
The Bowie sports banquets was on Monday night. Olivia Gill and Tucker Jones were named Jackrabbit and Lady Rabbit of the year. Pick up the mid-week paper for all of the sports team awards and pictures.
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