Both Bowie basketball teams celebrated senior night on Tuesday with one-sided district wins against Jacksboro.
The Jackrabbits won 54-25 while the Lady Rabbits won 48-36 in games both teams were expected to win.
Both Bowie teams were coming into the games after similar wins at Breckenridge. With both of them trying to improve their playoff seeds, neither could afford to lose.
The Bowie girls played first and Coach Matthew Miller said afterwards it was not the team’s best performance despite getting the win.
The biggest thing for the Lady Rabbits was trying not to let the Lady Tigers big post player Erin Jonas hurt them too much. Besides her scoring four points in the second half, they did just that.
Bowie was able to make a couple of 3-pointers against Jacksboro’s zone in the first quarter to build a 12-5 lead. The Lady Tigers were able to cut into the lead a bit by making a two 3-pointers of their own in the second quarter, outscoring Bowie 10-7 to cut the Lady Rabbits lead to 19-15 at halftime.
Bowie came out in the second half ready to attack.
After drawing only four free throws in the first half, the Lady Rabbits went on to draw 22 in the second half. Unlike some recent games, Bowie was making a good percentage of them this night.
The Lady Rabbits almost doubled their first half total in the third quarter which allowed them to build a double-digit lead 35-23. The fourth quarter saw both teams score 13 points as Bowie was able to close out the game winning 48-36.
Taygon Jones led the team with 18 points, with 12 coming at the free throw line. Maddie Mandela also scored in double-figures finishing with 13 points while grabbing a team high six rebounds.
Overall, the team went 19-26 from the free throw line, which is a good sign to see from this team.
The boy’s game saw the team dominate with defense throughout as Bowie held the Tigers under 10 points every quarter until the fourth quarter.
Coach Andy Atkins was able to start his five seniors at the beginning of the game without much to worry about.
The Jackrabbits got out to a 13-7 in the first quarter, but after that the team turned up the heat on defense.
Jacksboro scored only five points the next two quarters as Bowie’s lead continued to grow as the team went on.
With the Jackrabbits up 41-12 heading into the fourth quarter, Bowie was able to play even the rest of the way to win the game 54-25.
A.J. Whatley led the team with 14 points while making four 3-pointers. Tucker Jones was right behind him as he scored 13 points off the bench.

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