The Bowie Lady Rabbits’ season came to an end on Tuesday playing state-ranked Jim Ned in the regional quarterfinals.
The Lady Rabbits inability to score led to them losing 44-22 against the tough defense from the Lady Indians.
It was a rematch from last year as the two teams met in the exact same round of the playoffs.
Jim Ned had just beaten fellow district team Holliday in the previous round, a team that had just finished ahead of Bowie after a play-in game between the teams.
The Lady Rabbits started the game well. With both teams leaning on the strength of defense and emphasizing patient half court offenses, it would come down to which team played a better version of it.
It was a back and forth first quarter. Jim Ned scored on a few putbacks after offensive rebounds while Bowie scored on a few drives to the basket. The Lady Indians led 8-6 heading into the second quarter.
The few driving lanes the Lady Rabbits found in the first quarter seemed to dry up as Jim Ned seemed to get more locked in defensively. Bowie had been making enough 3-pointers recently to get by when it had trouble getting to the rim, but the length of the Lady Indians made getting shots off from deep tough.
A lone Season Eudey shot from three was the only one that went in the first half as the Lady Rabbits equaled their total from the first quarter.
The only issue was Jim Ned had a great offensive quarter.
The Lady Indians had a bit of trouble in the first quarter against Bowie’s trapping zone defense. Jim Ned would usually try cross court passes and then drive against a scrambling defense, but the Lady Rabbits rotations were usually fast enough to contest shots.
The Lady Indians started making them pay by making a few 3-pointers. Jim Ned’s Claire Graham especially made Bowie pay, knocking in two while also driving to the basket and making plays. She scored 11 of the Lady Indians 20 points during the quarter as the Lady Indians started to pull away.
The Lady Rabbits went into halftime down 28-12 and looking dire.
Bowie had comeback from double-digit deficits before and it was usually the result of their press causing havoc. Besides a few deflections early on, Jim Ned had mostly avoided big turnovers against the Lady Rabbits press.
One problem for Bowie was because the team had trouble scoring, it could not set the press up consistently. Usually it is hard to press a team after it grabs a defensive rebound since not everyone is set up where they need to be.
So to turn the game around, the Lady Rabbits would need to score some early in the third quarter so it could try and force turnovers on defense and hopefully turn those into quick baskets.
Unfortunately, Bowie had an even tougher time trying to score in the second half. Even open shots from outside just would not go in. The team had one trip to the free throw line and came away with no points.
This meant the Lady Rabbits could not set up their press like they wanted and the status quo stayed the same.
Jim Ned was comfortable with its lead. The team had been patient all game looking for its shot in the half court, but in the third quarter seemed especially so up double-digits.
While Bowie scored no points in the third quarter, the Lady Indians went most of the quarter having scored only two points themselves. Only Graham coming back in in the final three minutes to make two 3-pointers and scoring eight points saved Jim Ned’s offense from doing so little.
With the Lady Rabbits down 38-12 heading into the fourth quarter, only a miracle would save them. No signs came that night, but Bowie did play better to finish the game.
The Lady Indians were still not interested in pushing the pace on offense to avoid the Lady Rabbits coming back. Bowie did score early on in the quarter and was able to set up its press.
This turned up the intensity a bit with the Lady Rabbits backs against the wall and nothing to lose. Bowie actually outscored Jim Ned 10-6 in the quarter, but it was a far cry for any sort of comeback attempt.
Everyone knew the end was near as the time ticked down and the seniors played their final minutes of high school basketball before checking out for the final time.
The Lady Indians won 44-22.

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