SPORTS
Basketball Roundup
Forestburg girls
The Forestburg Lady Horns got showed how much growth they have had this season with a big win against Perrin-Whitt at home on Tuesday night.
The Lady Horns won with little trouble as they beat the Lady Pirates 43-25.
It was a rematch of a game earlier in the season when Forestburg played at Perrin-Whitt’s tournament on Nov. 16. In the tournament setting, it was a close game in which the Lady Horns only won 43-42 thanks to a last second shot.
The young Forestburg team has a lot more depth this season thanks to an influx of freshman, with several playing big roles on a team that struggled mightily at times last year.
The first quarter saw the Lady Horns come out with their hair on fire, pressing the Lady Pirates ball handlers with their full-court press and handsy zone defense.
Early on, Forestburg forced several turnovers and capitalized in transition to build a 6-0 lead.
The Lady Horns could not carry that momentum for the rest of the quarter. Perrin-Whitt settled down and started to break the press and create scoring chances while Forestburg struggled to have shots go down in its half-court possessions.
The Lady Horns led by one basket 11-9 heading into the second quarter and it looked like it was about to be another close game between the two teams.
Then Forestburg upped its play even more while the defense played lights out and the game was over. The Lady Horns did not let the Lady Pirates score a point again until more than midway through the third quarter.
By then Forestburg’s offense started to execute better as the team pulled away, leading 22-9 at halftime and 37-15 after three quarters.
Coach Cori Hayes felt comfortable emptying his bench for long stretches to get experience to every player with the game so in hand in the second half.
That may have led to Perrin-Whitt outscoring the Lady Horns in the fourth quarter 10-6, but Forestburg had a comfortable lead.
In the end the Lady Horns won 43-25, but it felt like it could have been by 30 points.
Jocelyn Rich led the team with eight points off the bench while Brenna and Braylee Briles each had seven points. Brenna also led the team with 10 rebounds and six assists while Braylee had two blocks. Lili Cisneros had a team high five steals.
Bowie girls
The Bowie Lady Rabbits traveled to Mineral Wells on Tuesday to play the Lady Rams.
The Lady Rabbits lost a low-scoring game to Mineral Wells 38-22 as Bowie continues to struggle to score the ball.
The Lady Rabbits were coming off a tough tournament at Breckenridge. The first quarter saw the teams be competitive as the Lady Rams led 12-8.
If Bowie could stop giving up free throw attempts, Mineral Wells shot six, and the team could get anyone besides Ziba Robbins, who scored all of the Lady Rabbits points in the quarter, going Bowie could take control.
Unfortunately, the Lady Rabbits scored only four points in the second quarter while the Lady Rams made three 3-pointers and scored a game high 17 points.
Mineral Wells led 29-12 at halftime and Bowie needed a big shift in the play to happen to dig itself out of the hole.
The Lady Rabbits got one ingredient that got going in the second half. After giving up double-digit points in both of the first half quarters, for the rest of the game Bowie allowed only nine points.
Unfortunately, the Lady Rabbits were not able to take advantage and score enough to turn the game around.
Bowie only added 10 more points in the second half and ended the game with no free throw attempts.
Mineral Wells won 38-22.
Nocona
The Nocona Lady Indians won against Pottsboro at home on Tuesday night to stay undefeated while the Indians lost at Wichita Falls.
The Lady Indians won with little trouble 57-23 while the Indians lost 56-44.
Nocona was coming into the game confident against the Lady Cardinals. While last year’s game between the two state-ranked teams was one of the Lady Indians toughest games of the season, this year it was not the same.
Some of Pottsboro’s top players from last year either graduated or moved schools and Nocona ended up playing just another 3A school it dominated.
The Lady Indians defense stifled the Cardinals to single-digit quarter totals throughout the game. Nocona could have shot the ball better, but there was never any doubt who would win.
Leading scorer Skyler Smith’s 27 points was more than Pottsboro’s team total as she also grabbed a team high 10 rebounds for a double-double. Meg Meekins was second with 20 points.
For the Indians, the offense just could not keep up with the relative scoring pace of the Coyotes team.
While Nocona was competitive, each quarter the team was outscored by a little more as it built up throughout the game to make it double-digits by the end.
Javier Gaytan led the team with 25 points. Jose Gomez Jr. and Karson Kleinhans were second with five points each.
Bellevue girls
The Bellevue Lady Eagles won at home on Tuesday night at home against 3A Boyd.
The Lady Eagles won 65-51 against the Lady Jackets.
Callie Martin led the team with 27 points while Cirstin Allen was second with 17 points as she made four 3-pointers.
Coach John McGee was proud of how his played and thought they fought with a lot of grit as his team readies to start district.
Prairie Valley
Both Prairie Valley basketball teams won their games at Wichita Christian on Tuesday night.
The Lady Bulldogs won in a blowout 49-19 while the Bulldogs won a closer game 53-40.
The Prairie Valley girls shot the best it has all season as the team made eight 3-pointers. Despite single-digit totals in the first and third quarters, high scoring second and fourth quarters carried the Lady Bulldogs offensively.
More so it was the defense that limited the Lady Stars to single-digits in every quarter.
Makaylee Gomez outscored Wichita Christian by herself with 28 points as she made five 3-pointers. Linzie Priddy joined her in double-figures with 10 points.
The Bulldogs had to recover from a bad first quarter initially. Prairie Valley scored only four points and was down nine points. The team had a huge second quarter to take the lead 20-17 at halftime.
Both teams scored well in the second half, totaling double-figures in each of the quarters though Prairie Valley scored more.
The Bulldogs won comfortable 53-40, but Stephens felt like his team had a chance to put the game away earlier if not for self-induced errors.
Tyson Easterling led the team with 18 points while James Wells was second with 12 points.
Missing scores
The Bowie and Forestburg boy’s teams and Gold-Burg girl’s team did not play a game earlier this week. Missing scores from both Saint Jo coaches, Gold-Burg boys coach and Bellevue boys coach.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
It was announced last week Nocona Athletic director/football coach Blake Crutsinger is resigning from his position at the school after serving four years.
Crutsinger said now is the time for his family to make the move, with his daughter Avery graduating after spending four years at Nocona and with his son Kellar about to enter high school and wanting the same for him at another school.
“With her going off to college, she had a really good four years here and just looking at Keller heading into high school and exploring some opportunities that might be better for him, it is just time,” Crutsinger said.
Crutsinger went 19-22 overall, helping the Indians to two playoff appearances in 2022 and 2023. The team’s best season was 2023, when it went 8-2 and won the district title, the first one in 11 years for the program.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
Saint Jo senior Payzlie Cervantes signed her letter of intent to play college basketball last week at Highland College in Kansas. She also played volleyball, softball and ran track at Saint Jo. “After talking with Coach Tana Coleman, I really connected with her and loved the campus vibe and direction she wants for the team,” Cervantes said. “I’m looking forward to continuing my basketball career while getting my associates degree in nursing to become a registered nurse.”
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
Last week Montague County had five girls from Bowie and Saint Jo compete at the state tennis tournament, and one team brought back some hardware.
Sisters from Bowie, junior Heidi and freshman Willow Siebert brought back a bronze medal competing in the 3A girl’s doubles bracket.
The pair were the first people from the program to make it back to state since their half sisters, Meagan and Myah Russell, advanced nine years previously.
The Sieberts came into state as a two-seed, having finished second at the regional tournament the previous week.
The duo was ready as they blew through their first two matches. They beat a team from Hondo in the first round with the scores being 6-1, 6-1 and dominated even more in the second round against a team from Tatum, winning 6-0, 6-1.
That got them through to the second day of the tournament, but Coach Dayna Boothe was worried they had had it too easy on day one.
Playing in the semifinals, the Lady Rabbits faced a familiar foe, a team from Peaster they had beaten in the regional tournament the previous week. Unfortunately, near the end of the first set, with the Sieberts fighting to stay alive, Heidi went after a high lob and slammed into the fence. She hurt her right arm and had to play through it for the rest of the match.
They lost the match with the scores being 6-3, 6-3.
It was an all Peaster final, with the other side of the bracket producing the team that both beat the Sieberts at the regional tournament and won their second straight state title.
Still, despite the disappointment, Bowie is bringing back a bronze medal. According to Boothe, after contacting people who would know dating back to the late 1970s, it could possibly be the program’s first medals from the state tournament in tennis.
Of course, Bowie was not the only school represented. Saint Jo had Taylor Patrick competing in girl’s singles and the team of Bailie Nobile and Maxey Johnson competing in girl’s doubles in the 1A classification.
Senior Patrick was making her third appearance at the state tournament, but her first in the singles competition.
She finished third at the regional meet which meant she had a tough first round matchup against a second seed from Fort Davis.
It took everything from Patrick in a match that lasted two and a half hours. She went down in the first set 6-2, but rebounded in a tight second set to win 6-4 to force a third and final set. She had the momentum and won 6-2 to move on.
She had to summon the energy to play later that day against a fresh one-seed player from Utopia. Patrick lost 6-1, 6-1 to end her Saint Jo career. Her opponent would go on to finish second.
Juniors Johnson and Nobile were making their first appearances at the state meet after finishing second at the regional tournament. In the first round they played a tough match against a team from Marathon. It seemed evenly matched throughout, but small mistakes at inopportune times cost them throughout the match. In the end, the team lost by the scores of 6-3, 6-3.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
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