The Bowie Jackrabbits had tough back-to-back games on Monday and Tuesday that tested them in new ways early this season.
The Jackrabbits came up short against state-ranked 2A Lipan 64-55 and against 4A Krum 50-42.
Bowie’s home opener on Monday was coming against the state-runner-up Indians from last year. Despite being the bigger school, the Jackrabbits were outsized in the post and would have been even if one of their starters wasn’t out with an injury.
Bowie started off the game competing well, getting two big corner 3-pointers from Bayler Swint to start the game. However, the offense had trouble scoring the rest of the quarter as Lipan was aggressively denying and trying to jump all the passing angles.
The Indians on offense were using their size to have players come off screens around the basket and score in sweet spots where half a second late was too late.
The Indians led 19-10 after the first quarter.
Bowie did not have time to adjust to Lipan’s defense as it changed to a half-court trap, zoning scheme that threw the team off guard for the first half of the second quarter.
Several steals led to easy baskets in transition for the Indians who went up 33-13 with 3:50 left before halftime.
Bowie closed the quarter well offensively. Swint and Dave Brightwell each had five points in the quarter to try and keep the lead within reach, but it was looking dire at halftime with the Jackrabbits down 39-22.
Bowie came out of halftime looking like a different team. It handled the ball better and had only one turnover for the rest of the game.
That combined with some players getting their offensive groove in isolation situations allowed Bowie to get back into the game.
Andrew Sandhoff led the team with seven points in the quarter. Players also got to the free throw line more.
After only one trip in the first half, the team went 5-8 in the third quarter alone.
With the offense taking care of the ball, transition opportunities were not as many for Lipan and the team had to scrape for every basket.
Bowie cut the lead to down to five points at one point, but trailed only 49-42 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Indians flipped all of the momentum of the third quarter on its head. They started the fourth on a 9-1 run to extend the lead back up to comfortable 58-43 with less than four minutes to play.
Bowie would not go away, scoring 12 points the rest of the way and making the final minutes a game within.
The defensive stops and miracle shot making the Jackrabbits would have needed to have a chance to win in the end did not happen at the Indians won 64-55.
The Jackrabbits did not have long to stew about the game because they traveled to Krum on Tuesday.
The first quarter was competitive as both teams were making some baskets despite the physical nature of the game. The Bobcats led 14-12.
Bowie had trouble offensively in the second half, scoring only seven points. This allowed Krum to build a lead 27-19 at halftime.
The Jackrabbits had another good third quarter, taking the lead initially before the Bobcats came back to grab a five-point lead 38-33 heading into the fourth quarter.
Bowie hung around to stay within range, but could not make the shots down the stretch to pry the lead away.
Krum made its free throws to extend its lead to 50-42 to end the game.

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