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Lady Indians going to state

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The Nocona Lady Indians beat Muenster and defending state champions Lipan at the 2A region II tournament on Feb. 23-24 to qualify for the state tournament in San Antonio.

After years of local domination, the Nocona Lady Indians are finally going to the basketball state tournament this week after winning the 2A region II title on Saturday at McKinney North.
The Lady Indians got redemption, beating Lipan 50-41, the defending state champions who beat Nocona last year in the same game. The Lady Indians also beat Muenster the day before 58-43.
Nocona came into the tournament feeling confident, but knew it was not going to be easy. Last year the team played Muenster twice and both games were low-scoring and competitive with the Lady Indians winning by only four and five points.
The first quarter of last year’s game in the regional tournament infamously ended with Nocona leading 1-0.
The Lady Hornets had a similar record and ranking heading into the semifinal game this year, with 29 wins and ranked 16th in the state in 2A according to the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches poll and 12th according to Max Preps.
Nocona knew it was going to be tough despite being favorites to win again against a Muenster team that was seeking redemption for last year.
The Lady Hornets played a deliberate and patient offensive game, with much off-ball movement coming off of screens. Nocona opted to play man-to-man defense, so players had to navigate the many screens for sometimes a full minute. Many Lady Indians even took to barreling through some screens to try and keep attached to players.
Muenster played a similar style of defense, with nothing fancy except straight up man-to-man.
The first quarter was a little slow, but nothing compared to last year’s slugfest as Nocona led 8-7.
“Their urgency and defense makes it tough,” Coach Kyle Spitzer said. “When we are on offense it just seems like it is so hard to score sometimes.”
The biggest thing to happen was the Lady Indians Skyler Smith got into foul trouble, picking up two fouls in the final minute which pushed her to the bench.
Muenster found its most successful offense hunting matchups for big, but not tall, player Anna Kay Hennigan who used her size and skill to score on drives to the basket. With Smith out, Nocona was more vulnerable to these disadvantage matchups.
Luckily, the Lady Indians still had their leading scorer Meg Meekins to lead them and the Lady Hornets had no answer. Meekins had scored six points in the first quarter and then scored 10 in the second quarter.
This helped cover as Smith had to go back to the bench midway through the quarter as she picked up her third foul.
Nocona led 25-17 at halftime.
For most of the third quarter the Lady Indians had trouble scoring after two quick baskets in the first two minutes. Muenster was hanging around and Nocona got more bad news when Smith picked up her fourth foul with three minutes left to play in the quarter.
With the Lady Hornets trailing by six points they were hoping they could change the momentum of the game.
Again, there was too much Meekins for Muenster to handle. She scored eight of her team’s 15 points in the quarter and helped spark a 10-6 run to end quarter. Nocona led by double-digits heading into the fourth quarter, up 40-30.
Give the Lady Indians a lead in the final period and it has been death for opponents.
While it almost back fired in their previous game against Cisco, the scaling back of Nocona’s offense to run some clock with good free throw shooters and ball handlers on the court has made it hard for opponents to come back against the Lady Indians.
Still, the Lady Hornets gave it their best shot. Muenster went on a 10-2 run in about a two minute sequence to cut the lead down to 49-43 with 2:14 left to play.
Smith came back in and she made up for her time sitting as she was sent to the free throw line four times.
She sunk all eight of her attempts to help Nocona pull away for good as the Lady Hornets offense ran out of gas. Aubree Kleinhans added one more free throw to give the Lady Indians their final point as Nocona won by the comfortable margin 58-43.

To read the full story that includes the recap against Lipan in the regional final, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.

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Tucker big in life as he was tall

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Temple Tucker graduated Bowie in 1954 and left indeniable impression on everyone encountered on and off the hardwood. (Courtesy photo)

The Bowie community lost one of its most well-known graduates with the passing of Temple Tucker on Dec. 7.
Tucker moved to Bowie in junior high after first living in Mercedes and Corpus Christi. He cut an impressive first impression for his classmates as even back then he was on his way to standing 6 feet 10 inches.
“He was tall,” echoed classmates Gail White and Ben Hill.
At first his height seemed to hinder him more than help on the basketball court as he is described as tripping over himself.
“He couldn’t chew gum and walk down the street at the same time,” White said.
It took good tutoring, first from principal Paul Tover and then Coach Raymond Mattingly to turn Tucker into one of the best basketball players in the state.
Tucker graduated in 1954 and has the distinction of being possibly the most accomplished athlete in program history, no matter the sport. He was a part of four straight state championship basketball teams, where he featured as the team’s center down low back when post play ruled the sport. He was named to the all-state team his last three years.
Playing in an era where more than 10 of his teammates went on to play college basketball and coached by Raymond Mattingly, who was inducted into the Texas High School Basketball Hall of Fame and was a member of the Texas High School Coaches Association Hall of Honor, Tucker was far from a one-man show.
His last two seasons saw Bowie go on a 69 game winning streak, only snapped the year after Tucker and his teammates graduated.
He then went to Rice University and played for the Owls. Freshman were not allowed to play back then so when he starred as a sophomore he averaged 22.1 points and 12.7 rebounds and was a third team All-American selection and a second team all-southwest conference selection.
As a junior, he averaged 15.1 points and 10.5 rebounds while earning second team All-SWC again. His senior year he averaged 13.5 points and 8.8 rebounds while being picked as Rice’s most valuable player.
He was later inducted into the Texas High School Basketball Hall of Honor, the Rice University Athletics Hall of Fame and the Bowie High School Hall of Honor.
Tucker then was drafted in the fourth round of the NBA draft by the Philadelphia Warriors. Instead of pursuing professional sports, which were much less lucrative than they are now, he decided to use his bachelor of arts degree in economics to work for Northwestern National Life Insurances as a financial advisor. He lived in the Houston area and was living in Cypress with his wife of 41 years, Anita, when he passed. He was previously married to Doris Neville.
“He was my gentle my giant,” Anita said. “Everyone knew that is what I called him.”
Described as a humble person, many of his family and friends only learned later from other people and from discovering packed up trophies in boxes the extent of Tucker’s athletic achievements.
He had five children: Kevin, Brian, Carol, Rick and Marva. His oldest, Kevin, described Tucker as the stereotypical Christian-centered father growing up.
“If you had to define a father, he was a great traditional father that grew up in a Christian household,” Kevin said. “Taught us about the great outdoors, sports and how to live life.”
Kevin said the seeds for his faith were planted throughout his life by his dad. When he eventually came to embrace it while in college, his father was there ready to forgive him.
A big part of Tucker’s life was being apart of and then spending time as the president of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Greater Houston chapter. His father was a minister and Tucker’s faith was a big part of his life even as a teenager says his classmates.
“I never heard anyone say a derogatory word about Temple Tucker,” 1954 senior class president Gail White said. “He didn’t run around with the guys, but he was always with us when we were in a big group.”
“He was the best of us,” Ben Hill said.
The only time Hill, his teammate and the last surviving starting five member from the 1954 team, said he heard Tucker swear was a funny story.
Several of the key basketball players failed to hide from Coach Mattingly in the gym during track practice and were forced to run the 4×440 yard relay against the varsity track team.
“Temple was running the first leg and I was running the second,” Hill said. “The race started and old Temple come around the first curve. It’s a gravel track and he has on tennis shoes. He dropped the baton and when he turned around to get it he fell down in the gravel. Of course I was just on the ground laughing. He got up and got his baton and he wanted me to keep running. He said run, you SOB, run.”
It was one of several stories the two shared in their last phone call earlier this year.

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

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Montague County 11-man football all-district lists released

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Bowie running back Justin Clark was named second team all-district.

Bowie
First team
Rayder Mann, quarterback; Tyler Richey, wide receiver; Hunter Fluitt, offensive lineman; Noah Metzler, defensive lineman; Hunter Rodriguez, free safety
Second team
Justin Clark, running back; Preacher Chambers, defensive lineman; Griffin Richey, linebacker; Moh Azouak, cornerback
Honorable mention
Lane Whitfield, linebacker; Bradley Horton, strong safety; Hayden Rodriguez, offensive lineman; Jorge De Leon, defensive lineman; Zac Harris, tight end; Austin Cheney, outside linebacker; Jett Black, offensive lineman; Braden Rhyne, wide receiver; Boston Farris, cornerback
Academic all-district
Moh Azouk, Austin Cheney, Justin Clark, Jorge De Leon, Boston Farris, Hunter Fluitt, Simion Givens, Zac Harris, Hayden Rodriguez, Robert Stice, Rayder Mann, Hunter Rodriguez, Bradley Horton, Griffin Richey, Tyler Richey

Nocona
First team
Matthew Johnson, offensive lineman; Jake Pribble, defensive lineman; Kasch Johnson, defensive lineman
Second team
Jax Fuller, running back; McCrae Crossen, linebacker
Honorable mention
Jayce Lehde, defensive back; Matthew Johnson, defensive lineman; Walker Murphey, linebacker

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Bowie soccer club kicks off with first games

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The Lady Rabbits club team came back from 2-0 to beat Burkburnett 4-2 on Tuesday. (Courtesy photo)

The Bowie soccer club played its first games of the season on Tuesday night to make history.
The Lady Rabbits beat Burkburnett 4-2 while the Jackrabbits lost against Wichita Falls Memorial 2-0.

Girls
The Bowie girls found themselves behind 2-0 early on against the Lady Bulldogs. The first goal of the season was scored by midfielder Heidi Siebert in the 23rd minute, which cut the lead to 2-1.
Right before halftime, midfielder Willow Siebert scored from 25 yards out to send the Lady Rabbits into the second half with momentum and the score tied at 2-2.
Early in the second half, striker Grayson Mares, who is in junior high, put Bowie in front with a goal in the 49th minute which was assisted from Willow Siebert.
The Lady Rabbits defense was able to hold for the rest of the second half. Late in the match, midfielder Adamari Alonso clinched the win by converting on a penalty kick to make the final score 4-2.
Willow Siebert was named player of the match, not just for her goal and assist, but her defending as well.
The defense played great after the initial two scores. Goalkeeper Yaquelyn “Yaq Yaq” Alvarez had three saves in the match. The defense allowed only two shots in the second half.
Coach Chad Word liked what he saw from his team considering they got the win against a 4A program.

Boys
The Jackrabbits fell behind early as WF Memorial converted on a penalty kick in the 13th minute. The Mavericks added one more goal early in the second half. Despite that, the defense challenged the Mavericks thanks to goalkeeper Zac Ivy, centerback Jerry Wymore and midfielders Sebastian Martinez and Corban Word. Word and Wymore also served as captains.
While Bowie lost 2-0, it was good showing playing against a 5A program and it being the team’s first ever game. Coach Chad Word saw some good things, but knows there are still things to work on.

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

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