SPORTS
Bowie loses play-in game 71-63
The Bowie Lady Rabbits lost their play-in game on Monday against Holliday.
The Lady Eagles won the third game between the teams 71-63 to secure the second seed in the district while Bowie now has the third seed.
With surprises out the window after two games played, with the Lady Rabbits winning the first game 49-48 at home before losing at Holliday 66-56, it came down to which team executed the best.
Bowie came in undersized at almost every position against the Lady Eagles starting five and knew keeping Holliday from scoring in the paint and dominating the offensive glass was key to victory.
Creating havoc with the full-court press to score off turnovers and making open shots from the perimeter would be critical as well.
The first quarter was a scoring blur for both teams. The Lady Rabbits press did its job of speeding up the game, but it was a double-edged sword.
The Lady Eagles did a good job of breaking through and capitalizing on scoring before the defense could get back.
Bowie did a good job of keeping up, making four 3-pointers in the quarter and never letting Holliday get too comfortable. The Lady Rabbits trailed 20-18 heading into the second quarter.
Bowie went away from its press defense and the pace grinded to a halt for both teams playing mostly in the half court. Despite the Lady Eagles size advantage and the team trying to use it by shooting around the basket, the Lady Rabbits did their best to make every basket tough.
On the other side of the court, Bowie’s offense seemed to dry up as well, with the team making only one field goal in the second quarter. With the physical nature of the game combined with the slow pace, the teams combined to score only 13 points after scoring 38 in the first quarter.
The Lady Rabbits still trailed at halftime, but was down only one basket 27-24.
Things picked up again on both sides in the third quarter. Bowie was more successful driving to the basket, picking up some more free throw attempts after drawing only four in the first half.
The Lady Rabbits decided to employ the press defense as a surprise a couple of times during the quarter, which worked a bit better when Holliday did not see it coming.
The Lady Eagles still kept their lead though, getting a big boost from post player Bree Zellers, who scored 12 of her team’s 19 points in the quarter.
At one point it looked like Holliday was poised to pull away by double-digits, but Bowie cut the lead down to 46-39 heading into the fourth and final quarter.
The first two minutes saw the Lady Eagles extend their lead to double-digits 52-42. The Lady Rabbits cut the lead all the way to 56-52 in the next three minutes thanks to forcing some turnovers with the press back on.
From there Holliday did a better job of running the clock and making free throws to go up 64-52 with less than two minutes to play. Two quick baskets, including one off a turnover thanks to the press, cut the lead to 64-57 with 1:36 left to play.
Another sequence like that would make it a one basket game if Bowie could get some stops.
Unfortunately, Holliday was a bit more careful with the ball and forced the Lady Rabbits to send them to the free throw line. The team made enough down the stretch to hold off the Bowie charge as Holliday won 71-63.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
With the baseball and softball seasons over for the area 1A schools, district awards have been released.
Listed below are those earned honors on the field and in the classroom for Saint Jo and Bellevue.
Softball
Saint Jo
Honorable mention
Utility player: Taylor Patrick; Catcher: Jordyn O’Neal
Baseball
Superlatives
Offensive MVP: Devin Stewart, Saint Jo
Newcomer of the Year: Bryce Ramsey, Bellevue
Pitcher: Trent Gaston, Saint Jo
Outfielder: Jayden Curry, Saint Jo
Second team
Pitcher: Charlie Barclay, Saint Jo
Infielder: Brycen Bancroft, Bellevue; Sam Martin, Saint Jo
Outfielder: Rylan Forrester, Saint Jo
Catcher: Charlie Evans, Saint Jo
Utility: Logan Hoover, Saint Jo
DH: Amzy Barclay, Saint Jo
Honorable mention
Cody Gaston, Saint Jo; Xander Joyner, Saint Jo
To see academic awards from Saint Jo players, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
Eldon Van Hooser is leaving Forestburg better than he found it.
The head boy’s basketball coach is retiring after more than 30 years, spending the last five at Forestburg.
Van Hooser did not come to this decision because of a lack of fire or feeling tired after decades in the profession. He had to for family reasons.
“My wife has MS (multiple sclerosis) and it’s a disease where you have trouble standing and walking and she needs help,” Van Hooser said. “I am able to so I am going to step away from teaching and coaching to be there for her.”
Van Hooser was hired in 2019. Along with being the boy’s basketball coach, he also was the football team’s defensive coordinator.
There were some lean years for Forestburg on the boy’s athletic side, with numbers being low and the available athletes being mostly underclassmen.
For two years, the Longhorns’ boy’s basketball team won few games and one of those seasons saw the team field five players on the high school team.
“One of those years we had COVID-19 and the other we had five kids,” Van Hooser said. “It was very rough. After that we worked with the kids and we had a good freshman group coming up. Next year they are going to be seniors.”
That group has helped to turn the program around. Last year the young Longhorns team contested for a playoff spot and just barely missed it finishing fifth in the district.
This season, that same group took a leap and finished second in district with a record of 7-5.
Despite losing its last two regular season games in dramatic fashion heading into the playoffs, the team stepped up in the bi-district game.
Playing against an athletic Newcastle team, Forestburg led for most of the game.
Unfortunately, the previous game against Bellevue saw the Longhorn team blow the lead late in the fourth quarter against a hard pressing style team and they were suffering the same fate against the Bobcats down the stretch.
Fortunately, Forestburg held on just enough to win 53-46. It was the first boy’s basketball playoff win in nine years for Forestburg.
“It was huge for our program,” Van Hooser said. “This new year we will have new goals. The new coach will have some goals of his own, but I set some for the team and think that we have come a long way.”
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
The Bowie sports banquets was on Monday night. Olivia Gill and Tucker Jones were named Jackrabbit and Lady Rabbit of the year. Pick up the mid-week paper for all of the sports team awards and pictures.
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