SPORTS
Nocona wraps up undefeated district title against Bowie
The Nocona Lady Indians got to put the exclamation point on the end of district play Tuesday at home on senior night.
The Lady Indians took down rival Bowie 49-31 to cap off an undefeated run to their second straight district title.
The Lady Rabbits came in wanting revenge after losing earlier at home as well as a shot at getting the second seed with a win. Avenging two of its three losses and riding a four game win streak, Bowie came in with a lot to play for even with Nocona already wrapping up the district title the previous game.
The Lady Rabbits came into the game with a different defensive strategy to try and shut down the Lady Indians top scorer Averee Kleinhans.
A few weeks earlier the team had had success shutting down Childress’ top scorer using the box-diamond defense, assigning one player to prevent that player from getting the ball while the rest of the team plays zone defense.
Early on Bowie scored on some fast break opportunities and were up 6-3 midway through the quarter. After a timeout, the Lady Indians spread the floor and had Kleinhans set up in the post. When a shot would go up, Kleinhans would fight to get the offensive rebound and scored on a couple of putbacks.
After that, Nocona found ways to get the ball in her hands despite the pressure and use that to the Lady Indians advantage. Several shots at the rim were set up off a double team coming at Kleinhans. She eventually hit a step back 3-pointer the defense could not do anything about to send the message home.
Nocona ended the first quarter on a 10-0 run to go up 13-6 heading into the second quarter. Bowie had trouble knocking in any shots from the perimeter. Shots inside the arc were even tougher as the Lady Indians did everything to make getting shots off inside difficult.
The game was pretty rough on both sides. While Nocona was getting to the free throw line a bit more than the Lady Rabbits, the official were letting both teams play quite. Bowie could not make up any ground as the Lady Indians led by double-digits 24-14 at halftime.
With the low scoring nature of the game, Nocona started running the clock when not pressured in the opening minutes of the third quarter. This forced the Lady Rabbits to extend their pressure out to half court and opened up the rest of the court for ball handlers Trystin Fenoglio and Kleinhans to distribute.
The Lady Indians had their best offensive quarter while Bowie continued to struggle. The Lady Rabbits got some good news despite the lead continuing to grow. Kleinhans picked up her fourth foul near the end of third quarter and was forced to sit.
While Bowie was down big 39-22 heading into the fourth quarter, if the Lady Rabbits were going to make up any ground it would be with her on the bench.
Bowie came out with a press defense. This worked a bit as the Lady Rabbits started the quarter on a 7-2 run. Bowie continued to force turnovers and extra possessions to end the game, but just could not turn all of those into points.
Nocona closed out the game with a lot of free throws, winning 49-31.
Bowie earns the third seed for the second straight season and will face another tough district runner-up from district seven. This year its Peaster played at 6 p.m. at Graham High School on Feb. 17. Nocona plays Tolar at 6:30 p.m. at Springtown also on Feb. 17.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend 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.
The Maskat Shrine Oil Bowl is this week on June 6-7 and graduating athletes from Bowie, Nocona and Saint Jo are confirmed to be playing.
In total, seven athletes from Bowie, five from Nocona and three from Saint Jo are planning to play in the all-star games this week. Nocona also will have a pair of coaches participating as well.
The girl’s basketball game kicks off events on June 6, scheduled for 6 p.m. at Wichita Falls Memorial High School. In the game, the east team will have Nocona players Avery Crutsinger, Meg Meekins and Reagan Phipps playing while Kyler Spitzer and Clayton Brown coach them one last time.
On the west team, Saint Jo’s Payzlie Cervantes is confirmed to be playing.
The boy’s basketball game is scheduled to follow at 7:30 p.m. On the east team, Bowie’s Boston Farris and Nocona’s Jose Gomez Jr. will be playing.
On June 7, the volleyball games are scheduled to start at 4 p.m. with the small school game. On the west team, Nocona’s Kaygan Stone and Saint Jo’s Taylor Patrick are confirmed to play. On the east team, Saint Jo’s Aubrey Morman will get to play her teammate.
There are no local athletes confirmed to be playing in the big school volleyball game.
The final event is the football game, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Memorial Stadium. It is an all Bowie affair with six players confirmed to be playing for the east team: Justin Clark, Jorge De Leon, Hunter Fluitt and Braden Rhyne, Preacher Chambers and Moh Azouak.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
Nocona Independent School District officials looked inward for a new athletic director/head football coach, selecting Jeff Hill for the position.
Hill, who served last year as Nocona football’s offensive coordinator and also led the softball program to the playoffs for the first time in a while as its head coach, was upgraded to the role.
This came on the heels of former Athletic Director Blake Crutsinger, who served in the role the last four years, resigned in May.
For Hill, the choice to apply for the position was a no brainer. His one year in Nocona had impressed upon him and his wife that it was the place they would like to be long term.
“I’m looking for a town to raise my kids in and Nocona has treated my family really well,” Hill said. “There are some really good people. The kids work hard. Everything I am looking for in a hometown is right here in Nocona and I want to try and make it as best as it can be, especially through athletics.”
Before Nocona, Hill served as the athletic director at S&S Consolidated while also spending time at Hebron and Whitewright in his coaching career.
Hill expresses great respect for the departing Crutsinger and besides changing a few small things in how he personally wants to do things, he is not trying to come in with a sweeping restructuring of the whole athletic department.
The program had five of its six team sports make the playoffs, with volleyball playing in the regional final and the girl’s basketball team winning the state championship.
That along with two athletes competing at the state championship in cross country and track with one earning a gold medal, it was one of the more successful school years in athletic program history.
“Coach Crutsinger was awesome and did a great job so honestly just little tweaks, a little bit of structure and cohesion amongst the coaching staff between boys and girls,” Hill said. “I hope to keep the winning tradition going overall in the athletic department.”
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
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