Saint Jo vs Prairie Valley
The Saint Jo Lady Panthers opened up district play on Friday at Prairie Valley in their bid to repeat as district champs.
The Lady Panthers got off on the right start, beating an undermanned Lady Bulldogs team 60-6.
Saint Jo came into the game confident after a good run at the Caprock Classic tournament in Lubbock after the holiday break. With four starters back from last year’s team that went 11-1 on its way to a district title, nothing has deterred the Lady Panthers from being favorites to repeat this season.
For Prairie Valley, there was worry it might not have enough players to field a team following a successful volleyball season. Thankfully, the Lady Bulldogs have fielded seven players most of this season, but it has been tough during their pre-district schedule.
Prairie Valley was coming into the game off a win in its previous game against Christ Academy, but that was all the way back on Dec. 20 before the holidays.
Saint Jo came out in its full-court press and harassed the Lady Bulldogs from the jump. Every time Prairie Valley advanced the ball past halfcourt and got a shot up was a win with how voracious the Lady Panthers defense was.
It fed directly into Saint Jo’s offense, with the Lady Panthers trying quick hitting drives or post ups near the rim or jacking up 3-point shots.
The first quarter was the most competitive of the game with Saint Jo up 16-4. Even as Saint Jo eventually pulled its press defense back to halfcourt and eventually no press defense, the team is used to playing one way which is hard and physical on defense which leads to turnovers and pushing the ball in transition.
That wore on the Prairie Valley team as the game went on as few players got any rest besides during timeouts and quarter breaks.
That put an end to the Lady Bulldogs scoring after making two free throws in the second quarter. Even as Saint Jo emptied its bench, Prairie Valley players were just trying to survive by the end of the game.
The Lady Panthers won 60-6.

Nocona
The Nocona Lady Indians won another district game on Friday in blowout fashion against Petrolia.
The Lady Indians scored a season high, breaking the century mark as they won 104-26 against the Lady Pirates.
Nocona came into the game confident, having last lost a district game back in 2019 and having won its first four district games by an average of 53 points. This game proved to be the most one-sided so far.
The Lady Indians scored 33 points in both the first and second quarters. The second half saw Nocona cool down only to scoring 20 and 18 points in the third and fourth quarters.
Few teams could have kept up, let alone Petrolia as the Lady Indians won 104-26.

Bellevue
The Bellevue Lady Eagles started district on a good note with a win at Midway on Friday.
The Lady Eagles won 68-40 against the Lady Falcons thanks to a strong first quarter.
Bellevue comes into district play hoping to improve on last year’s fourth place finish. While a few expected starters are out, the team has had a full pre-district schedule playing with a stable lineup to get ready for it as well as getting used to new Coach Celsey Hoffman.
The first quarter saw the Lady Eagles come out swinging offensively. Mostly just from attacking the basket and using a team first approach, Bellevue put up 29 points in the first quarter, with seven different players contributing.
The Lady Eagles led 29-12.
Playing with a huge lead allowed Bellevue to survive some of the eventual lulls that came as few high school teams can continually score at a pace like that. Midway actually outscored the Lady Eagles in the second quarter, but only by one point as Bellevue led 42-26 at halftime.
The third quarter saw the Lady Eagles play their most complete stretch of the game, limiting the Lady Falcons to only five points while scoring 17 points to extend their lead.
The fourth quarter was low-scoring and even as Bellevue won 68-40.

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

For more pictures from the Saint Jo versus Prairie Valley game, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6871972&T=1