The Bowie Jackrabbits lost to the third-ranked team in the state, Peaster, on Saturday in their bi-district playoff game.
The Jackrabbits lost 67-44 to the Greyhounds despite a mostly competitive first half.
Bowie came into the game with only one day of practice to get ready for Peaster’s full-court press defense after a week filled with snow and arctic temperatures meant no school.
The Jackrabbits seemed to be able to break through the Greyhounds press early on and set up their offense trying to attack the basket.
Peaster also was trying to get to the rim and were rewarded with eight free throw attempts. Bowie was trailing only 9-7 midway through the first quarter, but the Greyhounds went on an 8-2 run to end the quarter, extending their lead to 17-9.
The second quarter saw the Jackrabbits fire back great. Bowie scored seven points in the first minute and half of the quarter to cut the lead to 17-16.
Unfortunately everytime the Jackrabbits got this close, Peaster would make a basket to stay ahead. Still, Bowie was playing with the Greyhounds and were trailing 26-23 with 3:29 left to play before halftime.
Peaster played with a lot of depth due to its high energy defense, but one player stood out offensively. Senior Braxton Bosher seemed to make good things happen when he was in the game. When he sat, the Greyhounds seemed to have some tough few minutes before Bosher was subbed back in.
At this point he came back in and started scoring on tough isolation sequences. He scored 14 of his game high 21 points in the second quarter.
Also, the defense for Peaster started to affect Bowie. Just trying to get the ball in play was proving taxing and mistakes were starting to pile up.
The game sped up in the final few minutes. The Jackrabbits would try to score on a wild drive, miss and the Greyhounds would score in transition.
After being within three points and really competing with Peaster, the Greyhounds ended the second quarter on a 14-0 run, going ahead 40-23 at halftime.
All of that hope that somehow maybe Bowie could pull off the upset of the year seemed to extinguish in during that 3:29 before halftime.
There was still a full half to play and the Jackrabbits were not just going to roll over.
Bowie started knocking down open 3-pointers in the third quarter thanks to good ball movement. A.J. Whatley made three of the team’s five three pointers during the quarter as the team tried to get back into the game.
Unfortunately, the Jackrabbits just could not get enough stops. Peaster had five different players score during the quarter. Despite giving up so many 3-pointers, the Greyhounds scored enough to not let Bowie make up any ground as Peaster led 54-39 heading into the fourth quarter.
The hot shooting from the third did not come to the fourth quarter. The Jackrabbits struggled offensively, scoring only two baskets which made the final score worse since they could not stop the Greyhounds.
Bowie continued to play hard until the end, but the final result was clear to everyone before the final horn went off as Peaster would win 67-44.

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