The Bowie Lady Rabbits lost their district opener on Friday night in Holliday and got their first district win at home on Monday against Breckenridge.
The Lady Rabbits lost to the Lady Eagles 61-48, but were able to turn around beat the Lady Bucks 58-42.
Bowie was undersized at almost every position against Holliday, but started out the game well. Playing deliberately and defending well, the Lady Rabbits led early 7-2.
The Lady Eagles closed the quarter well thanks to making a couple of 3-pointers and getting to the free throw line. Bowie was still competing well down only 12-10 heading into the second quarter.
It was more of the same for most of the quarter, with the Lady Rabbits making enough 3-pointers to keep within range of Holliday’s lead.
With the Lady Eagles leading 23-20 with a little less than two minutes to play before halftime, Holliday went on a 10-0 run in that time to open up a double-digit lead 33-20.
Bowie would have to find a way to make up that difference in the second half if it wanted to stay in the game.
The third quarter did not help.
The Lady Eagles built on their lead even as the Lady Rabbits continued to fight. At times the lead grew to 20 as Holliday went into the fourth quarter up 49-32.
Bowie made great effort in the final period. Upping its pressure, the Lady Rabbits brought more physicality and franticness to the game which allowed more transition opportunities.
Hit ahead passes to Maddie Mandela in transition allowed her to attack the basket before the defense could set up. She scored 11 of her team high 21 points in the quarter as Bowie cut the lead to 10 points at certain points.
Unfortunately, each time the Lady Eagles had an answer to keep the Lady Rabbits at bay. The 13 point lead Holliday got at halftime was the margin the team would end up winning by 61-48.
Bowie was able to shake off the loss when it played Breckenridge at home on Monday.
The Lady Bucks like to dictate the pace of play with their press and zone defense. The Lady Rabbits decided to attack it by employing their own press to make sure they played at their own pace.
Early on Bowie grabbed the lead and did not let go. With smart passes and good shot-making, the Lady Rabbits made three 3-pointers in the first quarter as they led 16-9.
Things kept up in the second quarter. Breckenridge’s offense was mostly predicated on them hitting shooters coming off of screens and making perimeter shots, all set up by its talented point guard.
Jones and Ziba Robbins took turns harassing her every time up the floor to never let her go where she wanted without a struggle. Defenders also did a good job of contesting every shot thrown up.
This did lead to some free throws being earned, but Bowie was scoring at such a good pace, even with the Lady Bucks switching to man-to-man defense.
The Lady Rabbits were up 29-14 with two minutes to go before halftime when Miller emptied his bench. Unfortunately, this was when Breckenridge had its best run cutting the lead to 29-20. The starters were sent back in to push the lead back up to double-digits heading into halftime 34-20.
The only notable thing in the third quarter was the Lady Bucks getting into the bonus early and Bowie having to work through a little foul trouble.
The Lady Rabbits scoring went down a tad from their hot shooting ways in the first half, but scored enough to not led Breckenridge cut the lead down much.
Bowie led 46-33 heading into the fourth quarter. All of the bench did play in the second half despite that initial bad run in the second quarter.
It was the type of game that coaches love where the outcome was never in doubt and everyone got a lot of playing time. The fourth quarter was more of that as the Lady Bucks scoring was kept in check, even with some blown assignments that made Miller throw his arms up.
Bowie won 58-42 to earn its first district win of the season heading into the holiday break.

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