The Nocona Lady Indians hoped to keep their one game lead at the top of the district intact as they traveled to district and county rival Bowie on Friday.
Thanks to some lock down defense in the second half, the Lady Indians pulled away to win the game 54-43.
Both teams desperately needed wins heading into the game for different reasons. The Lady Rabbits were coming off their second district loss at Holliday. Another loss would put hopes for competing for the district title up to a lot of chance.
For Nocona, the Lady Indians were fresh off beating the only other undefeated team in the district, Childress, in an overtime game. A loss would be their first in district play.
The first quarter saw Bowie come out firing, going up 5-0 in the first minute. The Lady Rabbits were making perimeter shots and were able to feed post Hope Jones.
Nocona was not able to make many shots from outside, but were finding ways to the basket and were rewarded with free throws. The Lady Indians attempted 12 free throws in the first quarter, getting some players from Bowie in foul trouble in the process.
At the end, Nocona led only 16-15 heading into the second quarter.
It was back and forth. Midway through with the score tied at 24-24, the Lady Indians leading scorer Averee Kleinhans picked up her third foul. She has a history of getting into foul trouble in the past that has not really been an issue this year, but Coach Kyle Spitzer still elected to sit her for the rest of the quarter.
The Lady Rabbits felt like this was the moment to pull ahead. Even with point guard Brysen Richey and Jones also picking up their third fouls, Coach Joe Crabb hoped his team would get a little bit of a separation.
That did not happen and Nocona led at halftime 29-28 thanks to continuing to attack the rim and some success on the offensive glass.
In the third quarter, the Lady Indians picked up the intensity on defense. This did not result in many turnovers, but Bowie’s offensive success it had had in the first half was not present. The Lady Rabbits did not score until more than midway through the quarter on a 3-pointer.
Meanwhile, Kleinhans started to heat up from the perimeter. She scored nine points in the quarter, including a heavily contested step-back 3-pointer. Along with baskets from post players Karlee Brown and Stephany Guiterrez, Nocona’s lead got a little more breathing room.
Only thanks to some quick baskets from Bowie’s Jayci Logan at the end of the quarter was the Lady Indians lead not in the double digits as Nocona led 43-35 heading into the fourth.
In the opening seconds of the quarter, Kleinhans picked up her fourth foul. One more and she would be out of the game. This time, Sptizer elected to keep her in after adjusting his defense a bit and trusting she would not pick up her fifth foul.
Nocona ran some clock off at various times throughout the quarter. Bowie tried to press them to speed the game back up, but to no avail.
The Lady Indians lead grew slightly while the Lady Rabbits could not make up enough ground to get back into the game. Nocona would win 54-43.
Both teams start the second round of district play this week. Bowies hosts Childress at 6 p.m. on Jan. 31. The Lady Indians travel to Henrietta to play at 6 p.m. on Jan. 31.

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