The Bowie Jackrabbits won their home opening district game against Henrietta on Tuesday night.
The Jackrabbits won 54-38 in a game that was much closer than the final score would make it appear.
Both teams came into the game with wins in the first district games. Bowie had walloped Jacksboro 71-26 while the Bearcats won a close game at Nocona 50-46.
Henrietta came out in a 2-3 zone and despite not having a big post in the middle, the team had multiple long athletes who made drives to the rim tough nonetheless. On offense, the Bearcats tried a lot of backdoor cuts, pick and rolls and off ball screens all with the purpose of getting downhill to the rim.
It was a slow start in the first quarter. Bowie was getting some good looks from the perimeter and around the basket that were just not going in.
The team was down only 5-1 about midway through the quarter when Drew Webber and Kynan DeMoss checked into the game off the bench. Both hit two 3-pointers each by the end of the quarter to give the Jackrabbits their first lead at 10-8. Eventually Bowie held a one basket lead 13-10 at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter saw Bowie diversify its scoring more. DeMoss did hit two more 3-pointers to lead all scorers with 12 points in the first half. The team also started to penetrate and look to score at the rim instead of just passing it back out for an open shot.
The team found post Riley Blackburn inside for a couple of baskets and Brody Armstrong finished on a drive to the basket.
For most of the second quarter, Bowie had both of its tall post players, Blackburn and Weber, at the same time to try and provide rim protection from Henrietta’s constant pressure. While it continued to stifle the Bearcats from scoring in bunches, Henrietta did a good job of getting to the free throw line. The team went 7-10 in the quarter alone which kept the game close.
Bowie led 25-19 heading into halftime.
The third quarter saw Henrietta switch to a 1-3-1 zone, but the Jackrabbits did a better job of finding driving lanes to the basket or opportunities on the offensive glass. The Bearcats finally started making some 3-pointers, scoring all nine of their points by making three of them in the quarter.
It was not enough to close the distance, though the score was still close as the Jackrabbits lead was 36-28 heading into the fourth quarter.
Even with Henrietta switching back to a 2-3 zone, it did not change much. Bowie was able to find Blackburn on dumpoffs for six points and Cade Thompson knocked in two 3-pointers as he scored eight points in the quarter.
Some of this was helped when the Bearcats switched to a press in the last few minutes with the lead now in the double-digits and the Jackrabbits making them pay after breaking it.
Bowie won by the biggest lead of the game 54-38.

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