SPORTS
Lady Indians beat Windthorst 57-40
The Nocona Lady Indians won possibly their biggest district game of the season as they hosted Windthorst on Tuesday night.
The Lady Indians won 57-40 to stay undefeated on the year against possibly the best team to challenge them in district play.
It was actually the second time the teams have played each other. Back in November the two teams met in the first tournament of the year at Bowie in the championship game. Nocona pulled ahead in the second half to win 64-44, but that win had some disclaimers.
The biggest was the Lady Trojans were coming off winning the state title the previous week in volleyball and came into the tournament with little to no practice time under their belts.
In any sense, nearly two months later and with the stakes higher, it was a whole new ball game for both teams to feel confident heading into the game.
Nocona has yet to lose so far this season and is ranked in the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches Poll at the top of the state in the 2A classification.
Since that loss to the Lady Indians, Windthorst had only one other loss on the year against Paradise in another tournament. The Lady Trojans were ranked 14th in the state in the same poll.
It was a classic contrast of styles matchup as the smaller, faster Nocona team matched up against a tall and big Windthorst frontline that wanted to post up and mash the Lady Indians rebounding the ball.
The first quarter was back and forth. Windthorst was able to get the ball into one of its post players and she did a good job of drawing fouls as Nocona sent aggressive double-teams. This also led to them allowing open shots from the perimeter as the Lady Trojans made two 3-pointers as well.
The Lady Indians initially had to break some back court pressure Windthorst sent at their two lead ball handlers, but they quickly burned that coverage to get them out of it. Some made 3-pointers of their own and, their bread-and-butter, pushing the ball in transition allowed Nocona to take a narrow 13-11 lead heading into the second quarter.
The Lady Indians defense tightened up in the second quarter, fighting to not give up position in the post or allow Windthorst to have such an easy time passing the ball into the post.
When the Lady Trojans did, Nocona scrambled and some aggressive contests were getting called for fouls at a higher clip than the Lady Indians would have liked considering their limited depth on the bench.
Still, Nocona continued to roll on offense. Playmakers Megyn Meekins and Skyler Smith hurt the Lady Trojans hitting ahead outlet passes to Aubree Kleinhans who scored six in the quarter. When that was covered better, Windthorst failed to pick them up and either were able to dribble all the way to the basket while pushing the ball up themselves.
Nocona extended its lead all the way to 27-14 at one point, but Windthorst closed the quarter strong to cut the lead down to 28-20 heading into the second half. Besides the close to the quarter, Nocona’s biggest thing was the eight fouls it committed which could prove to be fatal with a team that usually plays only seven girls.
The Lady Indians continued to execute transition opportunities with roll players leaking out at just the right times. When that was covered, Meekins and Smith found driving lanes converted enough to keep its lead.
Windthorst got hot from 3-point land in the quarter, making four. The Lady Trjoans closed the quarter on an 8-2 run to make the game the closest it had been since the first quarter 40-35 as the game went to the final period.
That momentum the Lady Trojans were building was swept away in the opening half of the fourth quarter as Meekins and Nocona’s defense took over.
The Lady Indians dialed up the pressure on the ball handlers and picked their pockets for steals that led to layups. Meekins, who admitted the team did not have a great shooting game, made back-to-back deep 3-pointers.
Reagan Phipps, who was dealing with foul trouble in the first half, got in on the action by sinking an open 3-pointer as well to provide the only other points in the quarter that was not scored by Meekins.
With 2:44 left in the game, Windthorst still had not scored since the end of the third quarter and Nocona’s lead was up to 55-35. All tension was melted away by then as the Lady Indians coasted to another double-digit win, 57-40.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
Bowie boys
The Bowie Jackrabbits had a good tournament back from the Christmas break last week, playing four games at Bridgeport.
The Jackrabbits went 3-1 overall, with the one loss coming against a bigger schools that is state-ranked.
Bowie started the tournament playing a small but athletic team in 4A Western Hills that liked to press on defense and shoot a lot of 3-pointers.
The Jackrabbits started the game out well, going up 14-6. Bowie was able to stay in control up 25-18 at halftime. The Cougars rode the hot outside shooting of one of their players, but the Jackrabbits had more of a team effort offensively throughout the game that never wavered.
Bowie won easily 51-38 to start off the tournament well. Rayder Mann led the team with 15 points while Gaige Goodman was second with 10 points and Adam Pickett had nine points.
The second game did not go well as the Jackrabbits were matched up with 4A state-ranked team Burkburnett.
Unlike the previous game, the Bulldogs press defense sped up the game to a pace Bowie did not want to be. After a close first quarter, Burkburnett had two quarters it scored more than 20 points that the Jackrabbits just could not match. The Bulldogs won 78-47.
Mann led the team with 17 points while Goodman was second with seven points.
The second day saw Bowie play previous Montague County rival Nocona for the first time since 2022.
The Indians led early 10-4, but the Jackrabbits cut into the lead and trailed only 20-16 at halftime. Bowie’s offense had a good third quarter, equaling its first half total on offense while limiting Nocona to seven points.
The Jackrabbits then made enough of their free throws in the fourth quarter to keep the Indians at bay as they won 41-34.
Mann led the team with 12 points while Bradly Horton was second with 10 points.
Bowie was able to take that win into its final game of the tournament, playing 4A Bonham. The Jackrabbits beat the Warriors 53-39 to close out the tournament on a good note.
Bowie girls
The Bowie Lady Rabbits came back from the holiday break and played a non-district warm-up game at Pottsboro on Friday to get back into shape.
The state-ranked 3A Lady Cardinals team won 56-35 against the Lady Rabbits.
Bowie had a great week heading into the Christmas break. The Lady Rabbits had started district 2-0 with wins against Iowa Park and Jacksboro. With district play waiting for the team this week, Bowie had one game to get its see legs back.
It did not start well for the Lady Rabbits. Pottsboro went ahead 19-6. Bowie had nowhere to go but up as it cut the lead to 25-15 at halftime.
Then the Lady Cardinals responded with a huge 24 point third quarter that put the game out of reach for the Lady Rabbits. Bowie finished strong with 15 points in the fourth quarter, but it was not enough to make up the big lead.
Pottsboro won 56-35.
Parker Riddle led the team with 12 points while Hanna Bell was second with 11 points.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
For more pictures of the Bowie boys at the Bridgeport tournament, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6871607&T=1
The Bellevue basketball teams both played in the playoffs for the first time in several years. The Lady Eagles finished fourth in the district to qualify after missing the previous season. In the bi-district round, Bellevue had to play the eventual state champs Newcastle.
The Eagles also finished fourth, though they played Saint Jo in a play-in game for third place. Bellevue then had to play state-ranked Graford in the bi-district round before ending its season.
The spring season saw Bellevue bring back its baseball program after many years.
While the team struggled during its initial season, it is a step in the first step for a program that hopes to compete well in the near future. In golf, the Lady Eagles ended up winning the district title to qualify for the regional tournament.
In the fall, both of Bellevue’s cross country teams finished second at district and qualified for regionals.
There, Mattie Broussard was able to qualify for the state meet individually after winning the regional title.
At state, Broussard came in ninth place to earn a medal.
To see pictures and highlights from all of the area schools, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
The Prairie Valley program had a good spring to start 2024. In tennis Case Carpenter qualified for regionals after finishing second at the district meet in boy’s singles. In golf, the Lady Bulldogs team finished second at the district tournament to qualify for regionals.
To cap off the spring season, Linzie Priddy qualified for the state track meet in the 800 meter race, where she placed ninth overall.
The fall season saw the Lady Bulldogs finish second in district to qualify for the playoffs. In the bi-district round, Prairie Valley held on to beat Vernon Northside in five sets to continue its season one more game. In the area round, the Lady Bulldogs lost to Garner.
In cross country, the program had one boy and one girl qualify for the state meet for the second straight year.
Josh Stout was running at state for the second time and he improved on his first appearance as she placed 29th. Priddy, running at the state cross country meet for her third time, finished 84th.
To see pictures and highlights from all of the area schools, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
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