SPORTS
Nocona teams both win at Henrietta
The Nocona basketball teams won at Henrietta on Friday to keep the good times rolling for both teams.
The Lady Indians stayed undefeated as they easily won 65-18 while the Indians controlled an intense game to win 49-38.
The Nocona girls started the game a little sloppy on defense. The Lady Cats scored more than half their points in the first quarter. Still, the Lady Indians run-n-gun offense proved too much as they established an 18-10 lead.
Nocona’s full-court defense started to affect the game in the second quarter and never let up. This prevented Henrietta from establishing much offense while the Lady Indians forced the pace they wanted. Nocona led 30-14 at halftime.
With the game firmly in hand, Coach Kyle Spitzer called off the press and started emptying his bench as soon as midway through the third quarter.
Despite that, the Lady Indians defense was still effective of shutting down the Lady Cats even in the half court.
Nocona continued to try and play fast, but some sequences were a bit sloppy as some turnovers added up.
Still the Lady Indians never were in trouble, allowing Henrietta only four points in the second half as they won 65-18.
The Indians’ game was expected to be a bit more competitive, though Nocona had won the first game by 18 points.
The first quarter was back and forth for most of it. The Indians came through and made three 3-pointers as they established a 15-10 lead.
Early on there was some chipy plays, resulting in a double foul called that led to some pushing.
Henrietta tried to use its size and try and make shots around the basket, but Nocona answered back with tough contests. Midway through the second quarter, the Bearcats had tied the game back up at 18-18, but Indians finished the quarter on an 8-0 run to take control back. Nocona led 26-18 at halftime.
The third quarter was a low scoring quarter for both teams, but it was in the Indians favor.
Henrietta could not buy a basket while missing free throws, while Nocona made a couple of baskets while knocking in all of its free throw attempts.
The Indians led 34-21 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Bearcats tried to dial up the defensive pressure to try and get back in the game with a full court press.
Nocona did not let this affect them at all. While the Indians did not score a lot, every possession ended with a good shot after running some time off the clock.
With nothing to lose, Henrietta started to try and force some quick shots and some finally started to go in. After scoring only three points in the previous quarter, the Bearcats scored 18, including 10 in the final minute and half of the game.
With the pressure not working, Henrietta started intentionally fouling down the stretch to save time.
The game might have started to get close if senior Landry McCasland did not calmly make eight straight free throws down the stretch.
This allowed the end of the game to come with little drama as Nocona won 49-38.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week 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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