SPORTS
Nocona girls beat Merkel 50-49
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.
Bowie had six players play in the Maskat Shrine Oil Bowl football all-star game. For pictures from not just the football game, but the basketball and volleyball games as well that feature athletes from Bowie, Nocona and Saint Jo, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6875584&T=1
Nocona is welcoming back Coach Sandy Langford, former coach and alumnus for the Lady Indians, as its new volleyball head coach.
Langford comes back to Nocona after spending the past 11 years leading the Glen Rose volleyball program.
Her circumstances with her family allowed her to jump at the opportunity once she became aware the position at Nocona was available.
“My youngest graduated and is playing football at Midwestern (State University),” Langford said. “All of our family is here and I knew that Coach Kara (Lucherk) was leaving. We were eventually going to retire here. Our oldest son plays college football at West Texas A&M and we’ll be two hours closer to him as well.”
She again will lead the Lady Indians volleyball program, one that she led all the way to the state title game in 2011, which is the farthest the volleyball program has ever gone in its prestigious history.
Langford kept up that level of success during her 11 years at the bigger 4A Glen Rose. She won less than 20 games only twice during her time, winning her 500th career game back in 2023. Her teams were ranked among the top 10 in the state five times and Langford led Glen Rose to the state tournament in 2017, the best finish in program history.
With the Lady Indians also having its own string of success, appearing in back-to-back regional finals while finishing atop the district standings both years, Langford is excited to not just keep the success going, but shoot for the stars.
“We are not expecting anything less than a state championship,” Langford said.
She has stacked the non-district schedule with strong, state-ranked 3A and 4A teams as well as big tournaments that will test Nocona’s mettle early next season in the hopes it will prepare them for a long playoff run.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
The Red River High School Bass Club competed this past weekend, May 31 – June 1, at the State Tournament on Lake Conroe for the two-day tournament.
Two of the teams from Montague County traveled south to try their best at the culmination of the year for the state title. Teams were able to pre-fish on Friday before the Saturday and Sunday competition. On Friday, there was a flipping contest for the youth and Cooper Johnson won third overall and won a $500 scholarship and an Academy gift card.
The club’s two teams who competed were Lane Smith/Colt Henry with boat captain Jimmy Smith. The team placed 63rd with a total of 16.22 pounds. The second team of Cooper Johnson/Corbyn Patton and boat captain Jayson Toerck placed 169th with a total weight of 2.29 pounds.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
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