The Nocona Lady Indians continued their march through the postseason with dominant wins against Hico and Collinsville.
The Lady Indians beat Hico 61-39 on Feb. 13 and then beat Collinsville 61-44 on Monday night.
Nocona were favored in both games even though the team was not going to take either lightly.
In the area round, the Lady Tigers came in with 21 wins and a big front line, but that was nothing new the short Lady Indians had not faced before.
The first quarter was a bit of a rough start for Nocona as the team led only 11-8. The Lady Indians came out with a full-court press to try and cause chaos against Hico’s ball handlers.
That started to pay off in the second quarter as Nocona started to collect steals and convert those into points in transition. The Lady Indians also started to make 3-pointers, making five in the quarter.
Nocona scored 25 points and pulled away 36-15.
The only drama in the second half was if this was going to be the game Meg Meekins would break the 3,000 career point barrier. She needed 23 points and after and uncharacteristically not great third quarter by the team, she scored the basket on a free throw early int eh fourth quarter.
Coach Kyle Spitzer called a time out to let her and the team know while the big traveling Nocona crowd celebrated in the Mineral Wells gym.
The Lady Indians coasted to the win 61-39, even giving its JV players some time in the end.
Meekins ended up with 26 points while Reagan Phipps was second with 11 points while making three 3-pointers.
As much as the playoff win was important, the celebration around Meekins scoring her 3,000 point was a big deal. She became only the fifth player in Wichita Falls area history to break the milestone and the second in school history after Averee Kleinhans.
“That was something she really wanted and for her to accomplish that was special for her, her teammates and this community because they are behind her 100%,” Spitzer said. “I have been very lucky and blessed to have two girls who can control the game, not turn the ball over and can go get you a bucket whenever they want to.”
Nocona moved on and played Collinsville on Monday in the regional semifinals. The Lady Pirates came into the game with 25 wins. Even though they were not rated highly on any state polls, they had beaten state-ranked Muenster two out of three times during district play to finish ahead of the usual regional power.
Collinsville was big in the post as well and had some good shooters. Like Nocona, the Lady Pirates liked to get up and down the floor in transition.
The first quarter saw the Lady Indians struggle to get anything to go down while struggling to slow down Collinsville, who ran some off-ball actions that was tough to defense while playing man-to-man.
Nocona was down 14-10 after the first quarter.
The Lady Indians tried to take away anything inside and pick up the defensive intensity overall with some ball pressure which seemed to do the trick.
Nocona also took advantage of a quick whistle in the second quarter, getting to the free throw line and getting a few Lady Pirate players into foul trouble.
The Lady Indians took control a bit, leading 25-19, but saw something scary right before halftime. Meekins went down holding her leg and limped to the bench as Nocona held its collective breath.
Coming out of halftime, Meekins walked a little gingerly but it did not seem to prevent her from playing well and the rest of the Lady Indians responded.
Nocona got a boost with Phipps making back-to-back 3-pointers to start the quarter and the Lady Indians were off and running.
Nocona pushed the ball in transition after defensive stops and found good shots. Meekins found Jasmine Olivares inside for six points during the quarter while she scored six points of her own as everything seemed to be rolling.
The Lady Indians led 49-27 heading into the fourth quarter and the game was a wrap.
Collinsville scored the majority of its second half points in the final minutes when Nocona’s JV team again got some valuable playing time, but predictably struggled.
The Lady Indians won 61-44.
Meekins finished with 24 points while Phipps was second with 13 points, with 10 coming in that big third quarter.

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For pictures from both games, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6873156&T=1 and click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6873158&T=1