SPORTS
Nocona falls short of the state championship at the buzzer
The heartbreak hangover is still palpable for the Nocona Lady Indians and their fan base four days later, after falling a basket short of winning the 2A state title at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
The Lady Indians made it to the state title game following a close 44-42 win against Wellington on Friday morning only to lose to Martin’s Mill by the same score when Kara Nixon’s circus floater went in at the buzzer and shattered hearts.
While further research showed it was Nocona girl’s basketball programs second time at the state tournament ever, following the 1953 team, this Lady Indians team seemed like it was the one that was primed to make history.
With six years of excellence slowly building up to this season, with Nocona conquering last year’s demon by beating defending champion Lipan in the regional final, the Lady Indians were hoping things would bounce their way.
Martin’s Mill was the final demon standing in the way. The Lady Mustangs are a regular at the state tournament, having qualified 15 times in the past 18 years while winning six state championships.
Martin’s Mill had its own score to settle against Lipan. The two teams met last year in the state semifinal and Lipan won 32-30. When the teams met earlier this season, Lipan won twice by five and three points.
Still, this year’s Lady Mustang team was different to last year’s team, returning only one starter and populated by mostly underclassmen.
Martin’s Mill had knocked off the second ranked team in the state according to the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches poll Tenaha in the regional tournament and used a good second half against Goldthwaite to win by 11 points in the state semifinal to reach the championship game.
Like most games, Nocona was outsized at almost every position. Outside observers looking at both pedigree and rankings would have most likely leaned the Lady Mustangs way despite the team being relatively inexperienced and young.
When the game started, it was immediately clear both teams would be on equal footing.
Martin’s Mill played man-to-man defense, but closed hard to wall off the paint despite having a height advantage at most positions. The Lady Mustangs were not going to let Nocona’s top two scorers, Meg Meekins and Skyler Smith, get to the basket off the dribble unfettered. This left the Lady Indians players wide open 3-point shots and early on they were making them pay.
Reagan Phipps and Avery Crutsinger knocked some down in the first quarter. Despite the help brought, Meekins still scored on a circus shot at the rim and Smith drew free throws.
What the Lady Mustangs posed offensively was tough. Nixon was a long and crafty point guard, Alli Vaughan scored in a bruising fashion posting up or off the dribble, McKenna Wise was the six foot post player who’d rather take outside shots.
The lone senior who had state experience was 3-point shooter Kate Lindsey who had set a state record this year when she made 15 3-pointers in one game.
The team shared the ball well and plays usually had multiple actions going on with players on and off the ball coming off of screens, sometimes multiple ones, which tested Nocona players having to fight through them all game.
The Lady Indians played man-to-man, with an emphasis to bring help on drives since they were undersized. One player that benefited from that for the Lady Mustangs was Wise, who sunk a 3-pointer at the buzzer of the first quarter to put her team up 14-10.
The second quarter saw Meekins somehow impose her will, scoring six points from the mid-range in despite all of the attention she was garnering.
Smith scored on a feed from Meekins in the pick and roll through traffic for an and-one finish and completed the 3-point play.
Nocona got an awkward put back in the lane from Aubree Kleinhans and Crutsinger made another open 3-pointer in the quarter.
The Lady Indians at one point took a five-point lead before Martin’s Mill came back to tie the game up at 24-24 at halftime. One bad development was Kleinhans picking up three fouls and having to sit at the end of the quarter.
The defense picked up for Nocona as the team seemed to implement a bit more switches to keep players from getting lose off of screens in certain situations.
The Lady Indians held the Lady Mustangs to only four points and one made field goal in the third quarter.
Nocona thankfully hit two 3-pointers, one from Crutsinger and another from Smith while Meekins got to the free throw line and made both of them. While it wasn’t great offense, it was enough to give the team a 32-28 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
The one negative was Kleinhans picking up her fourth foul and having to sit some of the game out.
Thankfully her sub off the bench Jolie Rose contributed by grabbing three big offensive rebounds, a trend for the game where the undersized Lady Indians actually outrebounded Martin’s Mill 24-20 while grabbing nine offensive rebounds and scoring eight second chance points.
The fourth quarter started off great for Nocona. After the Lady Mustangs scored in the opening minute on a post up, Meekins scored in the mid-range, finished a crazy layup while getting fouled and then Smith knocked in a deep 3-pointer off the dribble on consecutive series.
The Lady Indians had their biggest lead of the game 39-30 with 5:29 left to play and Martin’s Mill took a time out.
Nocona knows how to play with the lead and started to run the clock down, but were not completely non aggressive. A couple of good attempts just did not go in and two turnovers gave the ball back to the Lady Greyhounds who’s backs were against the wall.
The first player they turned to was Wise who made a 3-pointer to cut the lead to six points. Then after a toughly contested layup attempt on offense left Nocona in a five-on-four predicament on defense in transition, a contested 3-pointer from the player trailing from behind was called for a foul.
It was Nixon for Martin’s Mill and the freshman made all three shots to cut it to three-point lead with 3:02 left.
Kleinhans came back into the game after a long sit with foul trouble. Nocona got to the free throw line and Meekins made one of her two attempts to make it a two possession game 40-36.
The Lady Mustangs came right down and ran Nixon off several screens off the ball for a corner 3-point shot that was still contested decently she made to cut the score to 40-39.
Nocona then messed up trying to hold the ball and committed a turnover on offense, giving Martin’s Mill a chance to take the lead. Thankfully, Meekins got the ball right back with a steal with 50 seconds left.
The Lady Mustangs had to foul and Smith went to the free throw line and made one of her two attempts to push Nocona’s lead to 41-39 with 29 seconds left.
Martin’s Mill went back to Nixon, who again came off some screens, then took a side step as she knocked in a 3-point shot to give the Lady Mustangs their first lead of the second half 42-41 with 14 seconds left.
The Lady Indians immediately answered back as Meekins drove to the basket, spun in the lane, split a double team and threw the ball up as she went down and drew free throws.
She missed the first, but then made the second one to tie the game up at 42-42 with 8.8 seconds left.
Martin’s Mill did not call a timeout and gave it immediately to Nixon. Meekins stalked her up the floor the entire way.
The two point guards had gone at it all game as their two team’s leading scorers.
Meekins’ quickness had not allowed Nixon to get completely by her all game without screens, but Nixon did this time through feints and crafty ball handling.
She put up a crazy floater at the buzzer that sent her to the ground and a whistle meant at least free throws would have been coming. They were not necessary.
The ball went in and the hearts of Nocona were shattered.
Martin’s Mill won 44-42 and with it the state championship.
To read the full story, as well as a story from Nocona’s game against Wellington in the state semifinals, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
Baseball
The Saint Jo Panther baseball team lost their playoff series double-header against Electra on Thursday night.
The Tigers won 13-5 and 9-0 against the Panthers to end their season.
Saint Jo had a tough season up to that point. The Panthers last win came against Chico in early April. While the team usually struggles against their mostly 2A district schedule, the results were especially one-sided this season.
Still, Saint Jo was hopeful playing another 1A team like Electra would give the team a chance to win and continue its streak of winning its bi-district series that dates back to at least 2018.
Saint Jo started off the first game strong. Logan Hoover hit a sacrifice fly ball that drove in a run. Charlie Barclay followed with an RBI double. Trent Gaston then hit a two RBI single to put the Panthers up 4-0.
The Tigers answered with two runs in the same inning to make it 4-2.
Saint Jo failed to score in the second and third innings while Electra took the lead with three runs and then four runs to go up 9-4.
In the fourth inning, the Panthers scored one run when Jayden Curry successfully scored on the base paths from third base to make it 9-5.
That was the final run for Saint Jo in the game. Electra added three runs in the fifth inning and one more in the sixth inning.
It made the final score 13-5 for the Tigers.
Saint Jo was hoping it could play better in the second game.
In one sense the team did, allowing only eight hits and keeping the hot hitting Tigers from scoring in the double-digits.
Unfortunately, the Panther bats were kept tamed the entire game. Barclay got the teams only hit in the game and the team drew four walks. Unfortunately this was not enough to get any runs for Saint Jo.
The Tigers won 9-0.
Softball
The Saint Jo Lady Panthers softball team had their season come to an end in the area round of the playoffs against Jonesboro on Thursday night.
The Lady Eagles won the one-game playoff series 39-9 after five innings due to run-rule.
Saint Jo was coming into the game following a dominant 16-1 win against Perrin-Whitt in the bi-district playoff series. Unfortunately, the Lady Panthers were without their starting pitcher due to injury and their other pitchers struggled to throw strikes.
That was the case as Jonesboro piled on the runs in the first three innings. Trailing 26-0, Saint Jo’s batters put some good things together.
Taylor Patrick drove in one run with a triple. After drawing three straight walks, one runner scored thanks to a wild pitch. K Skidmore then drove in two runs with a double. Two more runs thanks to wild pitches following a single and two drawn walks.
The Lady Panthers had cut the lead to 26-6.
The Lady Eagles added seven runs in the fourth inning where Saint Jo found some more offensive success. With the bases loaded and two outs, one run scored on a passed ball.
Later an error when trying to throw a runner out at third base allowed the other two runners to score as the Lady Panthers scored three runs.
Jonesboro added six more runs in the fifth inning to make the final score 39-9.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
The Nocona Indians’ season came to an end on Wednesday night with their playoff series against Windthorst at Bowie.
The Trojans won both games by the scores of 4-0 and 11-5 against the Indians.
Nocona came into the series fresh off of the high of securing the program’s first playoff berth since 2005.
The Indians were coming off a sweep of Chico and had won five of their last six games. Still, Nocona was expecting a tough series as the underdogs, playing a district champion in Windthorst.
The Trojans got on the board first with an RBI single in the first inning. They added to it in the third inning with another RBI single and then an fielding error that allowed two runs to score.
Windthorst led 4-0 after three innings.
Nocona pitcher RJ Walker and the defense did its job the rest of the game, allowing only three base runners for the rest of the game and shutting down the Trojan batters with his off-speed pitches.
In the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, the Indians were able to get two base runners on in each inning, but never could find a way to get a run across home plate.
In the seventh inning the team had no such luck getting runners on base. Two strikeouts and first pitch fly out to right field ended the first game.
Windthorst won 4-0.
Both teams had seven hits in the first game. The only difference was the timing of the hits and the one fielding error that allowed two unearned runs to score.
Still, Nocona had some momentum with how it had played in the second half of the game. With the Indians having some one-sided losses against the top teams in their district, there might have been some worry that could happen.
Instead they had shown they could hang with the Trojans and knew that heading into the start of game two 30 minutes later.
Nocona went with a senior, Wesley Murphey, on the mound to start game two. Windthorst got to him and the defense in the first inning. An RBI double and an error at third base that allowed two runs to score put the Trojans up 3-0.
This game, the Indians’ offense had more luck as they answered back in the same inning.
Nocona loaded the bases with a single and two drawn walks. Landon Fatheree then drew a walk to score one run. Konnor Harrington followed with a fly ball out to deep left field. It was deep enough to get one run to come in and score.
Caden Belcher then followed with a double that drove in the final runner to tie the score up at 3-3.
Murphey and the defense settled down and shut out Windthorst in the second inning while the Indians bats were not done.
A fielding error, a walk and a single loaded the bases up with one out. Brody Langford and Fatheree each drew walks to score two more runs to give Nocona its first lead of the series 5-3.
The Trojans got one run back in the third inning. With two runners in scoring position, a groundout allowed one to score as Windthorst cut the lead to 5-4.
The teams then exchanged scoreless fourth and fifth innings before Windthorst grabbed control back in a sixth inning from hell Nocona would like to forget.
With two runners on and two outs with a full count, a double drove both runners in to give the Trojans back the lead.
A hit batter and a walk followed to load the bases. A change in pitching did not help the Indians as the next batter scored three runs with a bases clearing triple. A passed ball then allowed the runner to go home.
Windthorst had scored six runs and now led 10-5.
The Trojans were not done. In the seventh inning, a sacrifice fly ball to center field was deep enough to score one more run to put Windthorst up 11-5.
Nocona had three outs to make it all up, but the bats could not deliver as no base runners got one.
The Trojans won game two 11-5 to win the series 2-0.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
The Bowie Jackrabbits golf team finished with a bronze medal at the state tournament on Tuesday at the Grey Rock Golf Club in Austin.
The Jackrabbits got bronze for the second straight year at state and in the program’s third appearance in the last four years.
Bowie came into the tournament with confidence and experience. After last year’s team came back from several shots down to yank third place at state on the second day of competition, this year’s team was aiming for the number one spot since everyone from that team was returning.
The Jackrabbits knew it would be tough. Coming off a third place finish at regionals, with Brock beating them by 16 strokes and Lubbock-Cooper Liberty winning by 31 strokes, Bowie knew it needed to play better.
The team also knew its region was the best in the state and it showed as the state tournament played out.
The course was a new one not just for the Jackrabbits, but all of the teams at state. The plans were changed a few weeks before from last year’s course, Jimmy Clay Golf Course, to this year’s course the Grey Rock Golf Club.
The practice round for Bowie two days before was great, but it rained the day before the first round and when most of the other teams were playing on it. Thankfully, the two days of competition saw perfect conditions besides it being a bit wet early in the morning on day one.
That was when the Jackrabbits played their best. The previous two trips to state have seen Bowie teams play not its best the first day and before improving a lot on day two to jump up in the standings.
After day one, the Jackrabbits were sitting in second place. Their team score of 316 was eight shots behind first place Lubbock Liberty and four shots ahead of third place Brock. The team was even 16 shots ahead of fourth place, meaning at least a medal looked likely.
With the opportunity Bowie had, the team decided to push it and go for it, knowing both Brock and Lubbock Liberty were liable to shoot similar scores on day two after competing against both teams at regionals.
Day two was not as good as day one for the team. Three of the five players shot worse. The team shot 334, which was 18 shots worse than day one.
Brock and Lubbock Liberty only saw its scores increase by two and one, which allowed Brock to jump Bowie for second place.
The Jackrabbits still finished 18 shots ahead of fourth place Diboll to earn a medal definitively. Their two-day total of 650 was eight shots back of Brock and 33 shots from Lubbock Liberty.
Cy Egenbacher led Bowie with 80-79 for a 159 total that tied him for 10th place individually.
Andrew Sandhoff was right behind him, shooting 81-79 for 160 as he finished tied for 11th place individually.
Both are seniors and have been a part of all three state appearances dating back to their freshman season.
Rayder Mann shot 79-86 for a 165 total that tied him for 15th place. Zac Harris shot 76-90 for a 166 total as he finished in 16th place.
Hunter Lea shot 83-92 for a 175 total as he placed tied for 20th individually.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
-
NEWS1 year ago2 hurt, 1 jailed after shooting incident north of Nocona
-
NEWS6 months agoSuspect indicted, jailed in Tia Hutson murder
-
NEWS1 year agoSO investigating possible murder/suicide
-
NEWS1 year agoWreck takes the life of BHS teen, 16
-
NEWS9 months agoMurder unsolved – 1 year later Tia Hutson’s family angry, frustrated with no arrest
-
NEWS1 year ago
Sheriff’s office called out to infant’s death
-
NEWS1 year agoBowie Police face three-hour standoff after possible domestic fight
-
NEWS1 year ago
Driver stopped by a man running into the street, robbed at knifepoint