The Nocona Lady Indians wrapped up their third straight district title with a win at Bowie on Tuesday night.
In a game that proved similar to the first game several weeks back, the Lady Indians won 66-42 thanks a defensive effort in the second quarter.
The Lady Rabbits main concern offensively was trying to wall off the paint and slow down Nocona’s Averee Kleinhans. They played a box-and-one defense, with Camberley Gunter getting stuck shadowing Kleinhans most of the night.
Nocona stuck with playing aggressive man defense, which led into their transition offense with Kleinhans throwing full-court outlet passes to teammates who leaked out early.
In the half court, Lady Indians seemed to elect to shoot over the zone and use their superior size in the front court to try and gather offensive rebounds for putbacks.
Nocona led 12-5 in the first quarter, but the Bowie was not done.
The Lady Rabbits ended the quarter on a 7-2 run thanks to some good shot making by Bowie as five different players scored during the quarter.
The Lady Rabbits cut the lead to 14-12 and it looked like it was going to be a close game.
Not much changed in the second quarter except Bowie no longer made many shots. After an early 3-pointer from Gunter in the second quarter, the Lady Rabbits did not score again until the last few minutes of the quarter.
This was not good for trying to shut down Nocona. The Lady Indians thrive off of defensive stops, always looking for the opportunity to push the ball in transition. This also prevented Bowie from trying to set up its full-court press to keep the ball out of Kleinhans hands.
Nocona still found ways to score in the half court. Sydni Messer knocked in two 3-pointers while the front line of Kleinhans, Karlee Brown and Stephanie Gutierrez crashed the boards inside looking to score off the putbacks.
The Lady Indians scored a little more than they did in the first quarter while holding the Lady Rabbits to five points, opening up a double-digit lead 30-17 heading into halftime.
Bowie’s offense got back on track in the third quarter. Gunter made two 3-pointers and scored eight points during this time as the team almost doubled its first half total.
Unfortunately for the Lady Rabbits, they could not slow down Nocona. Despite the team’s best efforts, Kleinhans had her biggest quarter of the game, scoring 13 points including a devastating step-back 3-pointer at the buzzer to put the Lady Indians up 52-31.
Even if Bowie would somehow hold Nocona scoreless in the fourth quarter, the Lady Rabbits would have to score 21 points in a quarter against a tough defense.
The press and traps had forced some turnovers during the game, but not the kind that led directly to quick points Bowie would need to try and come back.
What made it tougher was Nocona decided to hold the ball to start the fourth quarter, running valuable time off the clock.
This forced the Lady Rabbits to try and extend their pressure in the half court, which was tiring to do for long stretches let alone a full quarter.
This forced Bowie to eventually start to foul Nocona players and send them to the free throw line or exposed an easy shot at the rim.
Every possession that did not produce points for the Lady Rabbits seemed to make the prospect of coming back harder as time ticked away with long possessions from the Lady Indians.
Bowie did score some, but not near enough to come all the way back with Nocona scoring just enough to keep the game drama free down the stretch.
The Lady Indians would win 62-44.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.