SPORTS
Prairie Valley girls beat Gold-Burg in play-in
In a rematch from a few days before, the Prairie Valley Lady Bulldogs won the play-in game against Gold-Burg on Friday night in Saint Jo to earn their first playoff appearance since 2013.
The Lady Bulldogs held on to win another close game 41-38 just three days removed from winning a close game against the same Gold-Burg team.
Both teams were ready for the other coming into Friday’s game. Prairie Valley had won only 43-42 earlier in the week, but it could have easily been won by the Lady Bears with a couple of shots and free throws bouncing their way in a crazy final three minutes.
The Lady Bulldogs knew they had to defend Gold-Burg’s senior Kelly Contreras well and not give up any open 3-pointers against their 1-3-1 zone.
The Lady Bears knew they had to rebound well and focus their efforts on limiting Prairie Valley’s leading scorers Carmen Gomez and Emily Carpenter.
The first quarter saw Gold-Burg go to freshman post player Sadie Weaver early and often to use her height to get off tough shots near the basket and draw fouls.
The Lady Bulldogs were led by not just Gomez by her little sister Makaylee. The two combined to score all of Prairie Valley’s 11 points in the first quarter as they led 11-10.
The Lady Bulldogs lead grows a little bit with some scoring contributions from Carpenter and Karagan Ritchie, leading 20-12 at the most midway through the quarter.
The Lady Bears changed their defense from a zone to a switching man-to-man defense that stifled Prairie Valley for all but one more basket the rest of the way.
Gold-Burg was still trying to get close shots around the rim and were drawing more free throw attempts, but did not make as many as it could.
The defense allowed the Lady Bears to cut the lead to 22-17 at halftime, but better shooting (5-11) from the free throw line could have had them in the lead.
The third quarter saw Gold-Burg slowly come back to tie the score up by the end. Even with the team switching back to the 2-3 zone for most of the quarter, Prairie Valley’s offense seemed out of sync with too many turnovers.
The score was tied 30-30 heading into the fourth quarter. With the amount of free throws Gold-Burg was earning, foul trouble for the Lady Bulldogs in the post had been trouble all game.
Two minutes into the final period, Prairie Valley senior Jaylie O’Neal fouled out.
Having to defend the taller Weaver now fell to Briana Harris, who matched better with her height, but was less experienced despite being older.
The teams had trouble scoring field goals for most of the quarter, but fouls on both sides meant players were heading to the free throw line for crucial free throws down the stretch.
Makaylee gave the Lady Bulldogs 35-34 lead with 2:14 to play. Gold-Burg’s Contreras tied the game 30 seconds later by making one free throw.
The Lady Bears then was gifted a turnover and had a chance to break the 35-35 tie with 1:34 left with free throws, but missed.
On the other end, the Lady Bulldogs Carpenter earned herself free throw attempts and made one to give them a 36-35 lead with 1:17 left to play
After a jump ball got Prairie Valley the ball back a few seconds later, the Lady Bulldogs broke through Gold-Burg’s full-court press defense with Harris scoring on an uncontested layup to make the score 38-35.
The Lady Bears were able to respond quickly as Madison Fulmer made a shot to cut the lead to 38-37 with 50 seconds left to play.
Gold-Burg elected not to foul but pressure Prairie Valley in the hope to force a steal. After running some clock, the team was able to get a clear layup for Harris following several good passes to make the score 40-37 with 18 seconds left.
The Lady Bears ran down the court and knew they needed to hunt a 3-point shot that had been absent for them all game. With three seconds left a desperate 3-point attempt was hoisted up despite heavy pressure.
This drew three free throws with three seconds left that would were likely the game with that little time left.
Unfortunately for Gold-Burg, the first two missed and the last went in to cut the lead to 40-38.
A desperate foul on Prairie Valley’s Carmen forced free throws with less than a second left that just added to the Lady Bulldogs total as they won 41-38.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
Nocona
The Nocona Indians picked up dominant wins against Chico in their series against the Dragons last week.
The Indians won both games 11-0 by run-rule after five innings to get their first district wins of the season.
Nocona was coming off losing both games against Lindsay the previous week in its first district series and bounced back in a big way.
In the first game at home last week, the Indians scored six runs in the first inning and five in the third inning which proved to be all the offense they needed.
Kutter Cabrera led the team with three RBIs while Miller Jentry was second with two RBIs. The team finished with nine hits and drew eight walks.
On the mound, Walker Murphey pitched a shut out while striking out seven and allowing three hits. Defensively, the team committed one fielding error.
The second game saw Nocona score all of its runs in the first three innings, highlighted by scoring six runs in the second inning.
Murphey hit a three-run home run to lead the team while Brody Langford and Landon Fatheree each had two RBIs.
On the mound RJ Walker had a big day, throwing a perfect four innings which means he did not allow a hit or walk anyone. He also struck out eight batters, which put him over 100 career strikeouts in high school. The defense committed no fielding errors.
Saint Jo
The Saint Jo Panthers lost their series against Bryson last week.
The first game was a close 3-0 loss, but the second game was 11-0, done after four and half innings due to run-rule.
The Panthers were coming off close losses to Perrin-Whitt from the previous week. They were hoping they could turn their fortune around playing another 1A program.
Unfortunately in the first game, the Cowboys got off to a good start, scoring three runs in the first inning, with two coming with two outs due to an error and a dropped third strike.
Saint Jo’s pitching and defense tightened up after that to not allow another run in the final six innings. Unfortunately, the Panthers had only two hits and four base runners all game as they lost the close game 3-0.
Charlie Evans and Rylan Forrest had the only two hits for Saint Jo in the game as the team struck out 18 times. Trent Gaston ended the game allowing three runs (one earned) on six hits while striking out five batters and walking two in six innings of work. The defense committed five fielding errors.
Unfortunately, things did not go as well several days later in game two. Bryson scored three runs in both the first and second innings before scoring five runs in the third inning. Saint Jo was not able to get a hit and drew two walks in the game.
The Panther defense committed six fielding errors which led to only three of the 11 runs given up were earned by the pitching staff who gave up five hits, walked six and hit four batters.
Bellevue
The Bellevue Eagles played Perrin-Whitt last week in a series.
The Pirates won the first game 11-1 by run-rule and the second game score was not updated on Game Changer.
The Eagles were coming off one-sided losses to Bryson the previous week in their first district series and was hoping to play better.
Bellevue did get out to an early lead in the first inning. River Trail hit an RBI single in the top of the first inning to go up 1-0, which proved to be the highlight of the game.
Perrin-Whitt scored three runs in the first inning, one in the second inning, two in the fourth inning and five in the fifth inning to win 11-1.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
Saint Jo
The Saint Jo Lady Panthers picked up a high-scoring win against Perrin-Whitt on Thursday to get their second straight district win and some revenge.
The Lady Panthers won 35-20 against the Lady Pirates, nearly equaling the total when both programs played on the gridiron during the fall.
Saint Jo was coming off a big win the previous week against Bryson, but had lost the last time it played Perrin-Whitt by 10 runs in another high-scoring game.
The Lady Panthers did not start the game off well, allowing 11 runs in the top of the first inning before they had even gotten a chance to bat yet.
Most teams would crumble, but Saint Jo fought back slowly at first before picking things up.
The Lady Panthers scored three runs in the first inning to cut the lead to 11-3.
Perrin-Whitt added four more runs in the second inning to go up 15-3, which in most games is insurmountable.
Saint Jo answered with eight runs in the bottom of the second inning, cutting the lead to 15-11.
The Lady Pirates scored five runs in the third inning and went up by nine runs 20-11. Then the Lady Panthers had a monster offensive inning that went on for awhile.
Saint Jo scored 18 runs in the third inning, not only getting its first lead, but going up by nearly double-digits 29-20.
The Lady Panthers had the momentum and it showed on defense in the fourth inning, allowing no runs for the first time all game by either team.
Saint Jo then went for the kill, scoring six runs to end the game early due to run-rule with the final score being 35-20.
Mercedes Diaz led the team with seven RBIs as she hit one of the two home runs for the Lady Panthers, with the other going to Lily Cook. Maxey Johnson was right behind with six RBIs and Kamron Skidmore had four.
Nocona
The Nocona Lady Indians started the second round of district with a dominant win against Era on Monday.
The Lady Indians won 16-0 after four innings, winning by run-rule against the Lady Hornets.
Nocona went 3-2 in the first round of district, only losing to big dogs Lindsay and Muenster. The first time the Lady Indians had played Era, it had been a close 5-2 win for Nocona so the team knew it had to come to play.
The Lady Indians started off well, scoring five runs in the first inning to take the early lead. Nocona added three runs during the next two innings to go up 8-0 as the Lady Indian defense shut down the Lady Hornets.
Nocona then went for the kill, scoring eight runs in the fourth inning to end the game early, winning 16-0.
Reagan Phipps and Tinley Cable each had home runs. Phipps had a team high three RBIs while Cable, Heidi Atteberry and Gwyndelyn Forsyth each finished with two RBIs.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
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