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Nocona girls beat Merkel 50-49

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The Nocona Lady Indians survived a second half assault from Merkel in the area round of the playoffs on Friday, holding on to win late.
The Lady Indians won by the narrowest of margins 50-49 to continue their season, sending the Lady Badgers packing for the second straight year.
Nocona started the game off well. The Lady Indians limited Merkel’s chances offensively while also looking for chances to score off of rebounds. Averee Kleinhans attacked the rim and got the free throw line, scoring five points. Sydni Messer knocked in a par of shots to also score five points. Nocona led 12-7.
The game picked up the pace in the second quarter for both teams, but the Lady Indians added to their lead. The team made three 3-pointers in the quarter and Kleinhans and Messer both shared in equal measures again, scoring six points each.
Nocona’s lead was in the double-digits 31-19 heading into halftime, but something from Merkel was lurking. Senior leading scorer Kaydi Pursley had carried the Lady Badgers offensively so far, scoring 15 of her team’s 19 points, including 10 in the second quarter. Little did the Lady Indians know she was just warming up.
Merkel changed the way it was playing defense to start the second half. Nocona went cold for all of the quarter, with only a pair of 3-pointers from Trystin Fenoglio and Kleinhans keeping the Lady Indians from posting scoreless quarter.
Pursley continued her scoring pace from the second quarter, scoring 11 points in the quarter as the Lady Badgers caught back up. Nocona’s lead was almost gone as it was a one-score game 37-35 heading to the final quarter.
The Lady Indians lost the score at one point as both teams went back and forth. Pursley was not cooling off as she would score 12 points in the quarter on her way to finishing with a game high 38 points.
Still Nocona would not fold. Fenoglio and Kleinhans both at different times came up with great finishing drives that were rewarded with free throws for traditional three-point plays to swing the momentum.
Down the stretch, the Lady Indians held a 50-49 lead with a little more than 30 seconds to go. Messer got her hand on a pass and almost completed the save, but it went out of bounds even with her diving to try and save it.
After inbounding the ball and working it to the left high post, the Lady Badgers bounce pass out to the perimeter was stolen by Kleinhans. She took the ball the other way and was fouled with eight seconds left.
She missed the free throw and Merkel raced the ball up the court while making sure it was in the hands of Pursley. Never breaking stride she put up a running shot from 3-point land was blocked and taken away by Fenoglio as the clock ran out, preserving Nocona’s win 50-49.

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

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Bowie Baseball Interview

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Interview with Bowie baseball players Boston Farris (left) and Trae Seigler following their district win against City View on April 8, 2025.
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Bowie Softball Interview

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Interview with Bowie softball players Hanna Bell (left) and Sadie Britt following their district win against City View on senior night on April 8, 2025.
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SPORTS

Baseball Roundup

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RJ Walker pitched four perfect innings for Nocona and got his 100th career strike out. (Courtesy photo)

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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