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.