SPORTS
Bellevue girls lose bi-district playoff game to Newcastle
The Bellevue Lady Eagles’ season came to an end on Monday night in their bi-district playoff game against Newcastle.
The state-ranked Lady Cats won 54-20 against the Lady Eagles.
Bellevue knew it had a tough draw. It had just creeped into the fourth and final playoff spot as the team’s up and down district record reflected the overall youthfulness of the roster.
That inexperience caused the team to miss the playoffs the previous season for the first time in many years as the majority of the team were freshman.
A year older, the Lady Eagles played the top teams in the district well in some games, but came up short.
The biggest game was their win against Slidell. With the Lady Greyhounds moving up classifications to 2A, it was a nice memory for this group to get them one last time since Slidell were usually district champs.
Newcastle was a different beast than any other team Bellevue had played in district.
The Lady Cats were massive at almost every position and knew how to use their size advantage well. They had only lost one game all season and are ranked as the second best team in the state in 1A.
The first quarter saw the Lady Eagles break through Newcastle’s full-court press with little struggle and scored two of their three baskets before the defense was set.
The Lady Cats perimeter shooting was not going in and while Bellevue battled hard for rebounds, sometimes Newcastle’s height advantage when going for offensive rebounds allowed for quick put backs.
Newcastle led 13-8, but the Lady Eagles were being scrappy and making the Lady Cats work.
In the second quarter, Newcastle switched its defense to just straight man-to-man defense and Bellevue struggled for the rest of the game. Defenders seemed to stick to Lady Eagle players on the perimeter.
Any room created driving to the basket was closed when tall help defenders came to contest shots.
Bellevue scored only three points in the second and third quarter combined.
Meanwhile, Newcastle seemed to abandon hunting 3-point shots and mostly tried to attack the basket or shoot some open shots right outside the paint.
The Lady Cats led 29-8 at halftime and 37-11 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Lady Eagles executed their offense better in the final period, cutting sharply to the basket for some good looks that went in as they scored nine points.
Newcastle won 54-20.
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