SPORTS
Nocona girls scrape off the Frost 64-37
The Nocona Lady Indians stayed on script and won their area playoff game with ease on Thursday night in Weatherford.
The Lady Indians made quick work of Frost 64-37 to move on in the playoffs as they have their sights on the ultimate prize.
Nocona came into the game as the heavy favorites, rated ninth in the state in 2A in the Texas Association of the Basketball Coaches’ poll with only three losses on the season.
However, it seemed like the Lady Polar Bears might give some kind of challenge for the usual area matchup. Frost had just sneaked into the top 25 in the same 2A poll at 24, having gone 25-7 during the regular season and finished second in its district.
The Lady Polar Bears also were coming off an emotional win in the bi-district round, where they came back from 13 points down entering the fourth quarter to win against De Leon.
Still, Nocona showed there were levels to this type of success.
Both teams started the game pressing the ball on defense, but in different ways. The Lady Indians employed a three-quarters zone trapping style while Frost was trying to play classic man-to-man with some surprise doubles in the back-court.
The first two minutes were sloppy on offense until Nocona scored its first basket. Then the Lady Indians’ defense started forcing turnovers that led to transition opportunities and Nocona was up 10-0 midway through the first quarter.
From there, the game was essentially over.
The Lady Indians led 23-3 heading into the second quarter. Only a couple of late 3-pointers before halftime allowed the Lady Polar Bears to break into double-digits as Nocona was in control 46-10.
The second half saw the Lady Indians really pull back. They stopped pressing and played straight up zone to not pour it on and that allowed Frost to set up its offense. The Lady Polar Bears also used its size advantage to crash the offensive glass at times for second and third chances.
Also in the second half, Nocona started emptying its bench to cycle through all of its players to give them valuable varsity experience with the game already wrapped up.
Frost actually outscored the Lady Indians in the third quarter 10-9, but Nocona still had a comfortable lead 55-20 heading into the fourth quarter.
The final period saw the Lady Indians pull back even more, taking off both of their leading scorers and ball handlers Meg Meekins and Skyler Smith. This is unusual for Coach Kyle Spitzer as he plays both the majority of games no matter the score only unless they are in foul trouble.
Then the final two minutes saw the starting five of the JV team get some varsity experience, doing some things well but also having some tough moments.
Despite getting outscored 17-9 in the fourth quarter, Nocona won easily 64-37.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend 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.
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