Boys
The Bowie Jackrabbits picked up their second district win on the road at Jacksboro on Tuesday afternoon.
The Jackrabbits came back from a double-digit deficit to win 38-35 against the Tigers.
Bowie came into the game following a tough tournament at Bridgeport following the holiday break. Before that, the Jackrabbits won a close overtime game against Iowa Park to start off district play 1-0.
The Tigers came in ready to play against Bowie.
“We let them settle in and get in a rhythm in the first half,” Coach Ryan Dykes said. “Jacksboro is a well-coached team that likes to control the tempo.”
The Tigers had balanced scoring in both the first and second quarter while scoring 11 and 13 points.
Bowie on the other hand only had leading scorer Andrew Sandhoff going as he scored 10 of the team’s 12 first half points. The Jackrabbits trailed 24-12 at halftime and needed to change some things.
“The guys made a great effort to increase the pace on offense and get out in the passing lanes on defense,” Dykes said. “The team showed a great deal of discipline and resilience to fight back and change gears in the middle of the game. We did switch defenses to a zone in the second half and that was beneficial to our success.”
The defense limited the Tigers to only five and six points in the final two quarters, which allowed Bowie to make up some ground as other players started to get in on the act.
The Jackrabbits more than doubled their first half total in just the third quarter alone, scoring 16 points and having four different players make at least one basket.
Bowie cut the lead down to one point 29-28 heading into the fourth quarter with all of the momentum.
While the Jackrabbits offense kept things going, bad free throw shooting limited the amount of points Bowie could have won by in the final quarter. The team went 2-9 from the charity stripe during the period and only 5-17 for the game.
Thankfully, the defense continued to play locked in during the same time while Tucker Jones scored six of the team’s 10 points in the final period along with baskets from Aiden and Brady Lawhorn. It was just enough for Bowie to hold on and win 38-35.

Girls
The Bowie Lady Rabbits are still looking for their first district win after losing a squeaker of a game at Jacksboro on Tuesday.
The Lady Tigers won just held on to win by one basket 37-35 despite a hard charge from the Lady Rabbits.
Bowie has had a tough start to district play. Still dealing with its top scorer being out with an injury, the Lady Rabbits came into the game with an 0-2 record in district play.
Meanwhile, Jacksboro came into the game tied for the district lead at 3-0 and a win against early district favorite City View.
Powered by two young, talented players, Bowie for the first time in several years was the underdog coming into Jacksboro.
Even with leading scorer Ziba Robbins in the lineup during the non-district part of the season, the Lady Rabbits have struggled to score.
Without her it has been tough, but Bowie saw what it would take to win with this team in their game against Graham last week. The Lady Rabbits won an ugly, low-scoring game 31-23 and they would need to keep the score low for a chance against the Lady Tigers.
The first quarter was not going Bowie’s way. The team trailed 14-5 and made only two field goals.
Thankfully, while the defense still struggled a bit in the second quarter, the Lady Rabbits offense woke up. The team made three 3-pointers and six different players scored at least one point. Bowie scored 20 points and trailed only 26-25 at halftime.
Unfortunately, Bowie couldn’t capture that magic from the second quarter on offense as the team scored only five points. Jacksboro scored 11 points and led 37-30 heading into the final period.
The pace slowed way down as the Lady Tigers tried to limit the Lady Rabbits chances of scoring as they played with the lead.
It nearly bit them as Jacksboro missed all four of the free throws in shot during the quarter and did not score a single point in the fourth period.
Bowie had chances to tie the score and take the lead down the stretch, but made only two field goals in the fourth quarter while missing some free throws that eventually would have tied the score if they had gone in earlier.
The Lady Tigers just held on to win 37-35.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.