SPORTS
Both Nocona teams do well at holiday tournaments
Nocona boys
The Nocona Indians had a good showing at the Bridgeport Holiday Classic tournament last week.
The Indians went 3-1 as they tried to get back into the groove of things following the holiday break.
Nocona started the tournament playing fellow Montague County team Gold-Burg. The bigger Indian team dominated, winning 84-36 to start the tournament off on the right foot.
Nocona then played tournament host Bridgeport. The Bulls had high scoring second and third quarters to pull away from the Indians. Nocona answered in the fourth quarter with its highest scoring quarter of the game, but just could not get enough stops on defense to come back. Bridgeport won 68-61 to end day one.
The second day the Indians played a competitive game against Boyd. After holding a one-point lead at halftime, Nocona came out in the third quarter and had an explosive quarter to pull ahead by double-digits.
The Yellowjackets made a dent in that lead in the fourth quarter, but the Indians held on to win 67-60.
Nocona then ended the tournament on a high note by blowing out Lake Worth. Four of the Indians five starters finished in double-figures as Nocona got out to a double-digit lead in the first quarter. The Indians won easily 63-34.
Nocona girls
The Nocona Lady Indians played in their toughest tournament of the season at Saginaw’s Championship Basketball tournament.
The Lady Indians went 2-2 and finished fourth overall while playing some of the toughest teams they will see all season.
Nocona first played Nazareth, the defending 1A state champions which has won 25 state titles and is currently ranked in the top 10 this year.
The Lady Indians defense led the way, limiting the Lady Swifts to less than double-digit point totals in three of the four quarters. Nocona won easily 64-38.
The Lady Indians next played an underrated 3A Shallowater team. While the Lady Mustangs aren’t ranked on any polls, they have picked up some impressive wins recently against several teams that are.
Shallowater proved it as the team hung with Nocona in the first half. A good third quarter put the Lady Indians up by double-digits. A late rally from the Lady Mustangs nearly saw Shallowater sneak back at the end, but the Lady Indians just held on to win 56-54.
Nocona then played one of the top ranked teams in 3A Jim Ned. The Lady Indians were playing from behind the entire game. The first half was high scoring for both teams, though the Jim Ned was ahead by double-digits at halftime.
The second half saw the pace get dragged down to a crawl as neither team scored in double-figures in the final two quarters. This limited Nocona’s chance to come back as Jim Ned won 57-40.
The Lady Indians then played one of the top ranked teams in 4A Sunnyvale in their final game, with the winner earning third place.
Nocona had trouble scoring against the Lady Raiders, only scoring in double-digits in one out of the four quarters in the game.
The Lady Indians could not keep Sunnyvale from scoring to keep the game close as the Lady Raiders lead grew.
In the end, Sunnyvale won 52-38.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
Bowie had six players play in the Maskat Shrine Oil Bowl football all-star game. For pictures from not just the football game, but the basketball and volleyball games as well that feature athletes from Bowie, Nocona and Saint Jo, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6875584&T=1
Nocona is welcoming back Coach Sandy Langford, former coach and alumnus for the Lady Indians, as its new volleyball head coach.
Langford comes back to Nocona after spending the past 11 years leading the Glen Rose volleyball program.
Her circumstances with her family allowed her to jump at the opportunity once she became aware the position at Nocona was available.
“My youngest graduated and is playing football at Midwestern (State University),” Langford said. “All of our family is here and I knew that Coach Kara (Lucherk) was leaving. We were eventually going to retire here. Our oldest son plays college football at West Texas A&M and we’ll be two hours closer to him as well.”
She again will lead the Lady Indians volleyball program, one that she led all the way to the state title game in 2011, which is the farthest the volleyball program has ever gone in its prestigious history.
Langford kept up that level of success during her 11 years at the bigger 4A Glen Rose. She won less than 20 games only twice during her time, winning her 500th career game back in 2023. Her teams were ranked among the top 10 in the state five times and Langford led Glen Rose to the state tournament in 2017, the best finish in program history.
With the Lady Indians also having its own string of success, appearing in back-to-back regional finals while finishing atop the district standings both years, Langford is excited to not just keep the success going, but shoot for the stars.
“We are not expecting anything less than a state championship,” Langford said.
She has stacked the non-district schedule with strong, state-ranked 3A and 4A teams as well as big tournaments that will test Nocona’s mettle early next season in the hopes it will prepare them for a long playoff run.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
The Red River High School Bass Club competed this past weekend, May 31 – June 1, at the State Tournament on Lake Conroe for the two-day tournament.
Two of the teams from Montague County traveled south to try their best at the culmination of the year for the state title. Teams were able to pre-fish on Friday before the Saturday and Sunday competition. On Friday, there was a flipping contest for the youth and Cooper Johnson won third overall and won a $500 scholarship and an Academy gift card.
The club’s two teams who competed were Lane Smith/Colt Henry with boat captain Jimmy Smith. The team placed 63rd with a total of 16.22 pounds. The second team of Cooper Johnson/Corbyn Patton and boat captain Jayson Toerck placed 169th with a total weight of 2.29 pounds.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
-
NEWS3 years ago2 hurt, 1 jailed after shooting incident north of Nocona
-
NEWS2 years agoSuspect indicted, jailed in Tia Hutson murder
-
NEWS2 years agoSO investigating possible murder/suicide
-
NEWS2 years agoWreck takes the life of BHS teen, 16
-
NEWS2 years agoMurder unsolved – 1 year later Tia Hutson’s family angry, frustrated with no arrest
-
NEWS2 years ago
Sheriff’s office called out to infant’s death
-
NEWS2 years agoBowie Police face three-hour standoff after possible domestic fight
-
NEWS3 years ago
Driver stopped by a man running into the street, robbed at knifepoint