SPORTS
Nocona beats Bowie 45-25
The Nocona Indians traveled to Bowie on Friday night with both teams coming off fresh losses and sitting at 1-1 in district.
The Indians’ defense stifled the Jackrabbits offense on their way to beating Bowie 45-25. The last time a Nocona team beat the Jackrabbits was in 2016.
The game started off slow for both teams. It took half of the first quarter until Bowie scored the first points of the game.
The Jackrabbits were playing zone to try and keep the bigger Indians from getting shots near the basket. Nocona was playing man-to-man and seemed to contest every shot that was attempted.
The score was tied at 4-4 with less than two minutes to go in the quarter. The Indians’ point guard Landry McCasland found himself open from beyond the arc a couple of times and drilled two 3-pointers to close the quarter as Nocona led 10-6 heading into second.
The Indians started the quarter strong, scoring eight points in the first two minutes to extend the lead to 18-6. With less than half the quarter still to play, Bowie still had not scored while the Indians lead was at 22-6 as post player Jason Sparkman scored inside and Carter Horn and Blake Gauna made some outside shots.
The Jackrabbits rallied to score seven points from Cade Thompson and Riley Harris, mostly doing so at the free throw line. Still, Nocona’s lead was in double-figures as the teams went into halftime, Bowie trailing 25-13.
The Jackrabbits needed a change. Bowie switched its defense and started to try and trap the Indians around the court. This tactic worked.
The forced turnovers allowed for some easy baskets as the Jackrabbits chipped away at Nocona’s lead, but also prevented the Indians from executing in the half-court like they were in the second quarter.
Bowie cut the lead to as close as seven points at one point. Only 3-pointers at the beginning and end of the quarter stopped Nocona from not scoring at all. The Jackrabbits trailed 31-23 heading into the fourth quarter.
If Bowie could keep up that energy and up its scoring, it might have enough to turn around the game into a win.
Instead the Indians started to handle the Jackrabbits pressure a bit more. An early 3-point play from Sparkman put Nocona’s lead back at double-digits and the lead never dipped back under for the rest of the game.
Bowie’s offensive woes continued for the whole quarter while the Indians rode the hot hand of Sparkman, who scored 11 of his team’s 14 points to seal the game. The Jackrabbits only score in the quarter came right before the buzzer as Nocona pulled away to win big 45-25.
Both teams wrap up the first round of district on Jan. 31. Nocona will travel to Henrietta and play at 7:15 p.m. Bowie will host Childress and play at 7:30 p.m.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
Nocona
The Nocona Indians picked up dominant wins against Chico in their series against the Dragons last week.
The Indians won both games 11-0 by run-rule after five innings to get their first district wins of the season.
Nocona was coming off losing both games against Lindsay the previous week in its first district series and bounced back in a big way.
In the first game at home last week, the Indians scored six runs in the first inning and five in the third inning which proved to be all the offense they needed.
Kutter Cabrera led the team with three RBIs while Miller Jentry was second with two RBIs. The team finished with nine hits and drew eight walks.
On the mound, Walker Murphey pitched a shut out while striking out seven and allowing three hits. Defensively, the team committed one fielding error.
The second game saw Nocona score all of its runs in the first three innings, highlighted by scoring six runs in the second inning.
Murphey hit a three-run home run to lead the team while Brody Langford and Landon Fatheree each had two RBIs.
On the mound RJ Walker had a big day, throwing a perfect four innings which means he did not allow a hit or walk anyone. He also struck out eight batters, which put him over 100 career strikeouts in high school. The defense committed no fielding errors.
Saint Jo
The Saint Jo Panthers lost their series against Bryson last week.
The first game was a close 3-0 loss, but the second game was 11-0, done after four and half innings due to run-rule.
The Panthers were coming off close losses to Perrin-Whitt from the previous week. They were hoping they could turn their fortune around playing another 1A program.
Unfortunately in the first game, the Cowboys got off to a good start, scoring three runs in the first inning, with two coming with two outs due to an error and a dropped third strike.
Saint Jo’s pitching and defense tightened up after that to not allow another run in the final six innings. Unfortunately, the Panthers had only two hits and four base runners all game as they lost the close game 3-0.
Charlie Evans and Rylan Forrest had the only two hits for Saint Jo in the game as the team struck out 18 times. Trent Gaston ended the game allowing three runs (one earned) on six hits while striking out five batters and walking two in six innings of work. The defense committed five fielding errors.
Unfortunately, things did not go as well several days later in game two. Bryson scored three runs in both the first and second innings before scoring five runs in the third inning. Saint Jo was not able to get a hit and drew two walks in the game.
The Panther defense committed six fielding errors which led to only three of the 11 runs given up were earned by the pitching staff who gave up five hits, walked six and hit four batters.
Bellevue
The Bellevue Eagles played Perrin-Whitt last week in a series.
The Pirates won the first game 11-1 by run-rule and the second game score was not updated on Game Changer.
The Eagles were coming off one-sided losses to Bryson the previous week in their first district series and was hoping to play better.
Bellevue did get out to an early lead in the first inning. River Trail hit an RBI single in the top of the first inning to go up 1-0, which proved to be the highlight of the game.
Perrin-Whitt scored three runs in the first inning, one in the second inning, two in the fourth inning and five in the fifth inning to win 11-1.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
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