SPORTS
Nocona Indians win 60-38 in bi-district game
The Nocona Indians easily won their bi-district playoff game against Haskell on Monday night in Olney.
Nocona won 60-38, starting out hot and never looking back despite cooling off as the game went along.
Nocona came into the game as favorites after going through district undefeated for its second straight district title and ranked ninth in the state in 2A according to the most recent Texas Association of Basketball Coaches poll.
Haskell was a fourth seed who came into the game and both wanted to play fast but also tried to post up its big, but not tall, post players on the block.
With Nocona not having elite height or size on its roster, it was the biggest defensive concern.
Haskell came out with a full-court press and played in a 3-2 zone on defense, trying to pressure the ball and force the action since the team did not have great height at the rim either.
Nocona was able to handle the press with little trouble all night, with few turnovers coming from overwhelming pressure. The team early on made several 3-pointers, dicing up Haskell’s zone defense with sharp passes that created open looks.
Nocona led 12-2 after four minutes and Haskell was never able to make it any closer. Nocona continued on and extended the lead to 21-6 at the end of the first quarter as the team made five 3-pointers.
Nocona was playing straight man-to-man defense, but had players sagged off into the paint to try and prevent clean passes into the player or ready to rotate when passes did get through. Haskell was not able to make many 3-pointers on the night, finishing with only three, to make Nocona pay for sagging off its players off the ball on defense.
Haskell was able to get the ball inside enough and played with energy to grab offensive rebounds, especially early on, to score better in the final three quarters.
Nocona’s hot 3-point shooting cooled off as the team made only one more for the rest of the game. However, Nocona was still able to score a bit more points than Haskell almost every quarter by driving into the lane and hitting cutters at the basket for uncontested layups.
Nocona led 34-16 at halftime and 49-27 after three quarters before eventually winning 60-38.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
In its first match since last year’s state semifinal appearance, Saint Jo hosted Bryson Aug. 11 and took a 25-13, 25-12, 25-21 win over the Cowgirls.
The Lady Panthers lost some talent to graduation but have five seniors ready to have a successful season. Savannah Hil, one of the five, got Saint Jo rolling offensively with a four-point serving string, including a pair of aces. Abby Carter’s kill and Kamron Skidmore’s block helped put the Lady Panthers up 5-2 in game one.
Hadleigh Moore added a four-point string of her own to extend the lead to 10-3. Tatum Morman’s pair, helped by a Hill kill, gave Saint Jo a 14-5 lead. Bryson got within five before a Hill 3-pointer, with help by a Carter kill, put the lead back at 18-10.
After an Olivia Johnson kill broke serve, Jordyn O’Neal served up the final five points, with Johnson providing a kill to move things along.
For further details, pick up a copy of Thursday’s Bowie News.
Despite being the smallest school in the Brock varsity classic volleyball tournament, the Lady Indians finished 4th out of the eight teams there.
After losing to the host team in its first pool play match Aug. 14 18-25, 14-25 and also to Class 3A Wall 12-25, 8-25, Nocona rebounded to close out pool play with a 20-25, 25-23, 25-20 win over Christoval. Sy Parker had 16 kills and 7 blocks in the three matches. Raylea Bowles had 12 kills, 17 digs and served up three aces. Maddyn Bowles had seven kills and 14 digs while Paige Davis had seven kills and 15 digs. Baylee Thomas added 11 digs.
From the setter spot, Kasi Castro had 20 assists, served up five aces and contributed 14 digs. Leah Meekins added 18 assists and six digs during the three matches.
To open Saturday’s bracket play, the Lady Indians posted a 25-18, 18-25, 26-24, 25-19 win over Fort Worth Christian. Castro staked Nocona to a 2-0 lead in game one. Kills by Parker set up pairs of points from Raylea Bowles and Leah Meekins helped Nocona negate an early deficit and take a 10-9 lead.
For further details, pick up a copy of Thursday’s Bowie News.
County football teams had their first scrimmage of the season Aug. 14 with mixed results.
Forestburg hosted Azle Christian and Victory Christian. Under a new system with new head coach Cori Hayes, the Longhorns looked pretty good in the coach’s eye.
“The first team looked good,” Hayes explained. “Overall we need to work on our pace and blocking assignments and blocking assignments. Overall we looked good for the new regime.”
Forestburg hits the road to scrimmage Newcastle Aug. 21.
For further details, pick up a copy of Thursday’s Bowie News.
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