SPORTS
Look back at spring sports 2003
Welcome to a look back column that covers some of the highlights of Bowie High School spring athletics from 30 years ago.
Highlights include the Lady Rabbits basketball team battling Decatur in the playoffs, the girls’ powerlifting program sending its second lifter to the state meet and both the softball and baseball programs making the playoffs after good regular seasons.
The stories were written by Brian Cavallaro.
February 20, 2003, The Bowie News
Headline: Bowie ends season with area loss
Not given a chance in the world of upsetting or even playing with the number 12 ranked team in the state the Bowie Lady rabbits opened some eyes and turned some heads as they narrowly lost to the Decatur Eagles 37-40 in the Area round of the playoffs on Feb. 14.
The game had a strange twist of irony as the Eagles are coached by onetime Bowie great Rene Hanebutt who helped lead the Rabbits to the 1995 3A state championship under Coach Rennie Waldrop. Lady Rabbits Head Coach Diana Weber was an assistant coach on the ’95 team and was Hanebutt’s eighth grade coach.
The Rabbits opened the game sluggish as the pestilent Eagle press allowed the Rabbits just four points in the opening frame, while Decatur notched 11 on the scoreboard.
The Rabbits found a way through the press in the second period adding 11 of their own. The Eagles stayed in stride with Bowie accumulating 12 more before the halftime buzzer sounded to enter the half up 15-23 over the Rabbits.
“Their defensive quickness really hurt us in the first half, especially. We knew they were quick, and we talked about it after Tuesday’s win over Wylie. We even overloaded the floor with six players in practice. The fact of the matter is, you just can’t duplicate quickness. We just turned the ball over too many times they capitalized,” said Weber.
The third period mimicked the first as Bowie was limited to seven points while the Eagles pounded out 10 more to advance their lead to 22-33.
The Rabbits turned the table in the fourth scorching the Lady Eagles defense for 15 points while holding Decatur to seven.
The Rabbits were behind by 15 points at one time in the second half we turned on the boosters in the fourth quarter to tie the game. Mackenzi hit two three pointers in the fourth to start the frenzied rally and it gave Bowie a spark. With just over a minute to play, the score was tied.
“We missed three very important free throws in the fourth quarter and turned the ball over with about 18 seconds left we had to foul to stop the clock and they made their free throws,” said Weber.
Mackenzi Lee led the Rabbits with 15 followed by Ashley Fisher with six and Danielle Reaves and Cassie Winn with five apiece.
“I am very disappointed with the loss, but not with the way this team performed the entire year. They are true competitors and they never gave up, even sometimes when they had every reason to,” Webber added.
March 20, 2003, The Bowie News
Headline: Stine places fifth
Bowie High School senior Meghan Stine came home with the fifth place medal from the Texas High School Women’s Powerlifting Association’s state meet on March 14.
Stine lifted a total of 685 pounds in the 123 pound weight division. She squatted 275 pounds, benched 120 pounds and deadlifted 290 to amass the total.
Amanda Silvas of Bishop was the winner of the weight class totaling 815 pounds to beat the nearest competitor by 85 pounds.
Saint Jo lifter Carlee Hofbauer repeated as Class A state champ lifting a total of 710 pounds.
To read the final two stories, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
SPORTS
Nocona boys beat Saint Jo 55-48
The Nocona Indians were able to beat Saint Jo at home on Thursday night in a tight contest.
The Indians won 55-48 against the Panthers in a game where both teams played hard, but made plenty of early season mistakes.
Nocona came into the game following a low-scoring win against Bells earlier in the week 35-30. For a young Indians team that only has a few players with varsity experience this year, every early season win builds confidence.
For Saint Jo, the Panthers were still without several returning starters since football is still going on. Despite that, new Coach Jacob Nocktonick is trying to build what he can with his group of basketball first players that include several key players even when the football team is integrated.
Despite Saint Jo being the smaller school, overall it had the height advantage in the front line since Nocona features only one player, Kasch Johnson, who is built like a post player. That is nothing new for the Indians, who featured a short team the previous year as Coach Brody Wilson emphasizes full-court pressure on defense and pushing the ball in transition in his system that makes up for a lack of height and size.
Initially Nocona’s pace and energy, grabbing several offensive rebounds, got it the lead 9-3. Eventually, the Panthers adjusted and trailed only 12-11 after the first quarter.
Saint Jo got the lead early in the second quarter. Post Trent Gaston took advantage of his size advantage, especially when the Indians had Johnson out, and led 17-12. Both teams had trouble scoring in a rough second quarter as open perimeter shots just were not going in and shots at the rim were tough to convert.
The Panthers led 23-20 heading into halftime.
Both teams had better offensive success pushing the ball when it could in the second half.
Saint Jo broke Nocona’s press and punished the Indians with quick baskets. Nocona ran whenever it could and seemed to put up an array of perimeter shots and drives, getting offensive rebounds it seemed at will to keep the pressure up and infuriate the Panthers coach.
The Indians got a big push from Landon Fatheree in the second half. After scoring eight points in the first half to lead the team, he scored 10 of his team’s 14 points in the third quarter.
Nocona got the lead back, but only led 34-33 heading into the final period.
The Indians had a comfortable lead up 44-36 when Saint Jo’s Gaston fouled out with 4:56 left in the game. Still, the Panthers did not give up and a minute later had whittled Nocona’s lead down to one basket 44-41 with 3:45.
The game stayed a one-possession game for the next two minutes as Saint Jo had several chances to tie or take the lead not go through.
Nocona made its free throws down the stretch to win with a little more comfort, with the final score being 55-48.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News. To see more pictures, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6870682&T=1
SPORTS
Nocona’s Meekins signs to Lubbock Christian
Nocona senior Meg Meekins signed her official letter of intent to play college basketball at Lubbock Christian University on Wednesday. Meekins, the daughter of Brandi and Lance, is a four-year starter on the volleyball and basketball court. She has earned several accolades like being named to the All State Teams for TGCA, TABC, Associated Press and was selected to the All Tournament Team at the UIL State Basketball Tournament in San Antonio last year.“The coaching staff and the community of the LCU program and just knowing you have a staff that coaches you, but also looks over you just like Coach (Kyle) Spitzer did here was a huge part in the recruiting process,” Meekins said. She plans to pursue a degree in either physical or occupational therapy.
For more pictures, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6870680&T=1
SPORTS
Bowie girls survive Bellevue 44-40
The Bowie Lady Rabbits got more than they bargained for when they traveled to Bellevue on Tuesday night.
The Lady Rabbits escaped with the win 44-40, taking the lead with less than a minute to go after trailing whole game.
Bowie came into the game confident. The larger 3A school was supposed to play Windthorst, but had to reschedule because the Lady Trojans volleyball team was playing in the state tournament.
Finding a last minute replacement, the Lady Rabbits thought they would have an easy game playing the 1A program down the road. Little did they know.
Bellevue had a couple of players out with injury to limit its depth a bit and a new coach in Celsey Hoffman, but the Lady Eagles were coming off of nearly beating a Nocona team the previous week. While the Lady Indians were missing four starters who were still in volleyball, it still showed this was not a 1A team to take lightly.
Bellevue came out fast showing tough defensive pressure despite giving up size at nearly every position. Within a few minutes the Lady Eagles had used that pressure to force turnovers and convert those steals into transition opportunities.
Also, the energy showed in other areas as Bellevue seemed to grab every loose ball and fought for offensive rebounds despite lacking in height compared to Bowie.
After a little more than four minutes into the game the Lady Eagles led 15-0. The Lady Rabbits had barely been able to set up their offense or attempt a shot against the pressure.
Bowie Coach Matthew Miller had to reset his shell-shocked team during multiple timeouts. The young ballhandlers was reminded how the team was going to break the press defense so it could set up its offense.
Bellevue led 19-4 after the first quarter, led by Mary Grace Broussard and Brittany Gill who each scored six points.
The Lady Rabbits settled down and made some good progress in the second quarter. Their defense switched between man-to-man and 1-3-1 to keep the Lady Eagles off balance. With them taking care of the ball better, there were less chances for Bellevue in transition and the Lady Eagles offense struggled to consistently find ways to score against Bowie’s length.
The Lady Rabbits offense found some success as well. Five different players made at least one basket and the team made two 3-pointers.
While the game was physical from the start, now that Bowie knew what type of game it was in the team responded back. It was not pretty and only enough fouls were called to make the game watchable, but individual foul trouble affected Bellevue harder than the Lady Rabbits in the second quarter.
The Lady Eagles still led heading into halftime, but Bowie had gotten it down to single digits trailing 25-19.
The third quarter was more even between the two teams as both had trouble consistently scoring baskets. Bellevue made three baskets and a couple of free throws to keep ahead.
The Lady Rabbits got a big lift from Lanie Moore, who knocked in all three of her 3-pointers in the quarter, scoring nine of the team’s 12 points.
Bowie still trailed, but had cut the lead down to one point earlier in the quarter and one basket 34-31 heading into the fourth quarter.
Bellevue grew the lead to 38-32 early in the final period. The Lady Rabbits struggled to get anything going offensively and trailed 40-34 midway through the quarter.
Bowie’s Kendall Fallis made a 3-pointer in transition to cut the lead to one basket 40-37.
The score stayed there for the next several minutes even as the Lady Eagles had two starters, Karis Denson and Mattie Broussard, foul out of the game.
With a little more than a minute left, the Lady Rabbits drew up and out of bounds play that got Laney Segura an open shot in the corner. Despite not having made a basket all game, she sunk the 3-pointer to tie the game at 40-40 with a minute still to play.
Bowie had been in a pressure defense for the second half of the fourth quarter to prevent Bellevue from passively running clock. Still in the defense, the team next stole the in-bounds pass and Railey Martin made the undefended layup to give the Lady Rabbits their first lead of the game 42-40 with 48 seconds left.
The Lady Eagles could not tie the score on their next offensive possession. Bowie would made two more free throws to make the final 44-40.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News. For more pictures from the game, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6870678&T=1
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