The Nocona Lady Indians won a crucial game at home on Friday night against Holliday.
The Lady Indians won a battle between the district’s only unbeaten teams 57-43 to take sole possession of the first place in the standings.
Nocona came into the game following a tough win against rival Bowie in the game before to pick up its 18th straight win. The Lady Eagles had won 14 of their last 15 games while beating every district opponent by double-digits.
Both teams started the game coming out firing. They were knocking down shots and playing great offense on both sides.
Holliday came out making three 3-pointers and using their size inside to battle hard on the glass. Nocona made four 3-pointers while using their pace to run in transition and drive to the basket when the defense closed out too hard.
The Lady Indians led 21-19 after a furious first quarter, but the game would slow down over the next three quarters.
Nocona tightened things up as the pace went down. The Lady Eagles were able to draw fouls during the second quarter, but made only one of their eight attempts. Combined with only one field goal made and the Lady Indians held Holliday to just three points in the quarter.
The Lady Eagles also were dealt a blow as one their key players Katy Jo Piper went down with a leg injury during the quarter.
Nocona was still scoring at a good pace which allowed it to build up a double-digit lead 36-22 at halftime.
Holliday came out in the third quarter and played better than Nocona. Fortunately for the Lady Indians, the Lady Eagles continued to struggle at the free throw line, making going 1-8 again.
At several points Holliday closed the lead to 10 points, but just could not break through despite outscoring Nocona during the quarter. The Lady Indians were still in control 44-31 heading into the fourth quarter.
Holliday hung around with the lead cut to 10 points again for most of the quarter as the team tried to use its physicality to force turnovers from a Nocona team trying to run clock the last four minutes of the game.
The Lady Indians held their ground and drew fouls and unlike Holliday made their free throws down the stretch going 8-11.
Nocona won with little drama at the end 57-43.

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