The Bowie Jackrabbit boy’s basketball team opened its season with a one-sided win against Ector at the Lipan Tip-off Showcase on Saturday.
The Jackrabbits took it to the Eagles 77-24.
Bowie came into the game after a week of practice trying to integrate some football players fresh off the gridiron, some of whom are returning starters.
While it was not the type of game that tested the Jackrabbits much, it is the type of early season blowout that is good for a team that is going to be trying to figure some things out.
Bowie returns six players from its varsity team last year that finished third in district and lost to state-power Brock in the bi-district round of the playoffs, with two of them being starters.
Brody Armstrong was an all-district pick last year and shared ball handling duties with A.J. Whatley at times. Both also had starting or big roles as sophomores and will be leaders to lean on this year.
Tucker Jones was the district’s newcomer of the year last year a sophomore. The athletic wing came off the bench last year and used his athletic gifts to impact the game in several ways.
Bayler Swint spent a lot of last year recovering from a leg injury and was never really able to find the footing he had his sophomore year. He hopes his size and skill inside and out can impact the team.
Brady Lawhorn was the third post player on varsity last year as a sophomore and makes up for his lack of height with athleticism and effort. Kynan DeMoss returns as a three-point gunner whose added physicality makes up for his lack of length.
Half of the team is made up of newcomers to the varsity level, but all are either juniors or seniors who have now been in Coach Andy Atkins system for two years now.
While the team is expected to be shorter than it was last year in the front line, several newcomers had some growth spurts and Atkins expects it will only be an issue if and when they play someone who is 6’6” or taller.

Lady Rabbits
The Bowie Lady Rabbits won easily against Era on Friday night to pick up their first win of the season.
The Lady Rabbits won 41-23, breaking the game open in the third quarter with their defense.
Bowie jumped out to a 15-5 lead after the first quarter and kept the Lady Hornets down double-digits in the second quarter with a lead up to 25-14 at halftime.
The third quarter saw the Lady Rabbits shut out Era on defense, allowing no points from the Lady Hornets. In return, Bowie got its biggest quarter from its leading scorer Maddie Mandela who scored 11 of her team high 23 points in the quarter to help the Lady Rabbits put the game away.
Bowie only scored once in the fourth quarter, but it did not matter in the end as the team coasted to the win 41-23.
Besides Mandela, Ziba Robbins finished in double-figures for the Lady Rabbits, scoring 10 points and grabbing a team high 10 rebounds for a double-double. Mandela also swiped a team high four steals.
The team made seven three-pointers, but only got to the free throw line twice in the game as the team maybe settled too much to hoisting long range shots.

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