The Nocona Lady Indians were able to pull out a close win at Bowie on Tuesday night.
The Lady Indians won 60-52, but the Lady Rabbits made them work for it till the very end.
Nocona came into the game favored to win. The Lady Indians were undefeated in district play and were ranked 13th in the latest state poll. Nocona also had won the last six meetings between the programs.
Bowie liked its chances though. After a tough start to the season, with the new team running into injuries to key players in the first month, the Lady Rabbits have played their best stretch of games during district play. After losing at Holliday, the Lady Rabbits had won five straight games, four of them against district opponents.
The game started out a bit slow for both sides, which favored Bowie in the long run. Nocona is always looking to push the ball and usually surprise teams with how hard its players run in transition ahead of the defense.
Fouls were called early and often on both sides that took a toll on both teams with slim benches.
The Lady Rabbits were leading 9-7 midway through the quarter. The Lady Indians decided to bring some full-court pressure that helped feed into an 11-0 run that took only 1:25 of game time.
Nocona led 18-9 and it looked like the team was ready to run away with the game.
Bowie closed the quarter well after that explosive run from the Lady Indians, as Nocona led 21-14.
The Lady Indians had made three 3-pointers and gotten multiple baskets from lead ball handler Megyn Meekins and post player Stephanie Gutierrez.
The Lady Rabbits relied on Maddie Mandela, who had scored nine of her team’s 14 points in the quarter.
The second quarter saw Bowie change up its defense from man-to-man to a zone at times that seemed to mess up Nocona a bit.
After getting their lead up to 28-19 midway through the quarter, the Lady Indians failed to score another point until two minutes into the second half.
This allowed the Lady Rabbits to come back. Nocona had to call off its press since foul issues and fatigue were not making it worth it.
Bowie got a big boost as Neely Price came off the bench and knocked in two 3-pointers to help lead the team in scoring during that time.
The Lady Rabbits came back from nine points down to take the lead 29-28 heading into halftime.
The third quarter saw Nocona snap out of its offensive slump once the first basket went in after the first 1:46. It was back and forth for most of the quarter.
Bowie went to Mandela who scored seven points, scoring on a couple of floaters and mid-range pull ups.
The Lady Indians then made a change defensively to start trying to deny her and the Lady Rabbits lead ball handler Taygon Jones, who had scored eight points by that time, the ball.
This caused some initial issues for Bowie and led to some turnovers Nocona converted. This and Gutierrez scoring nine points in the quarter, led to the Lady Indians getting back the lead, with the score being 47-42 heading into the fourth quarter.
Early on Nocona stretched the lead to seven points, but Bowie refused to fade away. The next four minutes the Lady Rabbits came back to cut the Lady Indians lead down to one basket 53-50 with 2:30 to play.
A few seconds later Nocona got a big play as Meekins converted on an and-one finish, making a tough basket while drawing the foul and then making the free throw for a momentous three-point play.
With the Lady Indians lead 56-50 and time running out, Bowie would need to score and score fast to try and get the lead down to within one basket again.
The shots were not there for the Lady Rabbits. Nocona got possession and ran some clock before Bowie was forced to foul and put the Lady Indians on the free throw line.
Despite Nocona players not making every one, there would be no comeback from the Lady Rabbits in the final minutes.
The Lady Indians would win 60-52.

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