Nocona
The Nocona Lady Indians won their bi-district playoff game against Haskell on Monday night.
Nocona blew out a Haskell team 70-25 that was just happy to make it into the playoffs after winning a play-in game against Hawley.
Nocona came in as big favorites with an undefeated record on the season and big expectations to go far in the playoffs. Featuring a team with few seniors, it would not have been strabge for the team to be looking past Monday’s game and possibly not play well and still expect to win.
Instead, Nocona came out ready to dominate. Haskell scored only three points in the first quarter and made no field goals. This allowed Nocona to get out and push the ball following rebounds and steals from its defense.
It was 19-3 Nocona after the first quarter and it never got much better for Haskell as the game went on. Obviously, Haskell scored a bit better in the following quarters, but never scored more than nine points in any of the last three quarters.
Nocona’s lowest point total was 14 points in the third quarter as it was already up by 30 points at that time. Coach Kyle Spitzer made sure the team finished with a good charge despite already having the game in hand as Nocona scored a game high 21 points in the fourth quarter.
Nocona won 70-25.

Saint Jo
The Saint Jo Lady Panthers held on to beat Bryson on Monday night in a game that came down to the wire.
The Lady Panthers won 39-37 against the Cowgirls.
Saint Jo came in as slight favorites being a two seed playing a three seed, but the Lady Panthers are a young team with no playoff basketball experience.
Saint Jo used its pressure defense to try and dictate a fast paced game it usually likes to play. Unfortunately, the Lady Panthers had trouble making shots.
Still, Saint Jo led 9-8 after the first quarter and 22-15 at halftime. The third quarter saw the Cowgirls get back into the game and cut the lead to one point 28-27 heading into the fourth quarter.
From there, Saint Jo was able to use its lead and slow down the pace some to try and work the clock, which was praised by Coach Daniel Lindenborn.
“I thought the girls did a superb job of keeping their composure throughout the entire game, especially at the end when we needed to protect the ball and run some time off the clock,” Lindenborn said.
That composure allowed the Lady Panthers to close out the game confidently, with only a 3-pointer from Bryson at the buzzer making it a two-point lead in the final score 39-37.

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