SPORTS
Bellevue girls beat Saint Jo
District play started Tuesday night as the Saint Jo Lady Panthers traveled to face the Bellevue Lady Eagles.
For those looking to see a competitive game, this was not it. The Lady Eagles jumped out to a big first quarter lead and dominated from start to finish on the way to a 74-35 win.
Saint Jo started the game facing heavy pressure from Bellevue’s full court press that featured trapping. This forced many turnovers which led to scoring opportunities for the Lady Eagles in transition.
Zoe Berry could not miss as she made three three-pointers in the first quarter and FreeDom Morris scored eight points as Bellevue built a 32-9 lead heading into the second quarter.
The Lady Panthers got a bit used to the pressure and was able to get past the press a bit more consistently in the second quarter to try and set up some offense.
This led to less easy points from the Lady Eagles, but unfortunately for Saint Jo, not much better offense.
In the half court, Bellevue was able to find the open spots in the Lady Panther’s two-three zone defense for open three-pointers and then crashed the boards for offensive rebounds. While they did not score 32 points, the Lady Eagles did extend its lead to 49-17 at halftime.
The Lady Panthers were able to create some looks on offense early in the second half with Emily Haney and Charity Brawner able to make their way to the basket for stretches. Unfortunately for Saint Jo, Bellevue did a good job of contesting at the rim to either force tough misses or send them to the foul line, where both players had issues on the night.
The Lady Panthers did change its defense from zone to man-to-man, but the Lady Eagles were able to adjust by running its post players through screens underneath the basket to get open shots right at the basket. Bellevue pulled back its defense to a more trapping half court attack out of a zone set, which led to some more turnovers and transition baskets.
As the game moved into the fourth quarter with the Lady Eagles lead sitting at 68-22, both teams just wanted to get this game over with.
The end of Bellevue’s bench, full of young freshman, played large stretches of the fourth quarter. Saint Jo was trying to look for any positive it could take out of this game with the conclusion already set. It was the only quarter the Lady Panthers outscored the Lady Eagles and they did try until the bitter the end. Still, Bellevue took the win 74-35.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
With the baseball and softball seasons over for the area 1A schools, district awards have been released.
Listed below are those earned honors on the field and in the classroom for Saint Jo and Bellevue.
Softball
Saint Jo
Honorable mention
Utility player: Taylor Patrick; Catcher: Jordyn O’Neal
Baseball
Superlatives
Offensive MVP: Devin Stewart, Saint Jo
Newcomer of the Year: Bryce Ramsey, Bellevue
Pitcher: Trent Gaston, Saint Jo
Outfielder: Jayden Curry, Saint Jo
Second team
Pitcher: Charlie Barclay, Saint Jo
Infielder: Brycen Bancroft, Bellevue; Sam Martin, Saint Jo
Outfielder: Rylan Forrester, Saint Jo
Catcher: Charlie Evans, Saint Jo
Utility: Logan Hoover, Saint Jo
DH: Amzy Barclay, Saint Jo
Honorable mention
Cody Gaston, Saint Jo; Xander Joyner, Saint Jo
To see academic awards from Saint Jo players, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
Eldon Van Hooser is leaving Forestburg better than he found it.
The head boy’s basketball coach is retiring after more than 30 years, spending the last five at Forestburg.
Van Hooser did not come to this decision because of a lack of fire or feeling tired after decades in the profession. He had to for family reasons.
“My wife has MS (multiple sclerosis) and it’s a disease where you have trouble standing and walking and she needs help,” Van Hooser said. “I am able to so I am going to step away from teaching and coaching to be there for her.”
Van Hooser was hired in 2019. Along with being the boy’s basketball coach, he also was the football team’s defensive coordinator.
There were some lean years for Forestburg on the boy’s athletic side, with numbers being low and the available athletes being mostly underclassmen.
For two years, the Longhorns’ boy’s basketball team won few games and one of those seasons saw the team field five players on the high school team.
“One of those years we had COVID-19 and the other we had five kids,” Van Hooser said. “It was very rough. After that we worked with the kids and we had a good freshman group coming up. Next year they are going to be seniors.”
That group has helped to turn the program around. Last year the young Longhorns team contested for a playoff spot and just barely missed it finishing fifth in the district.
This season, that same group took a leap and finished second in district with a record of 7-5.
Despite losing its last two regular season games in dramatic fashion heading into the playoffs, the team stepped up in the bi-district game.
Playing against an athletic Newcastle team, Forestburg led for most of the game.
Unfortunately, the previous game against Bellevue saw the Longhorn team blow the lead late in the fourth quarter against a hard pressing style team and they were suffering the same fate against the Bobcats down the stretch.
Fortunately, Forestburg held on just enough to win 53-46. It was the first boy’s basketball playoff win in nine years for Forestburg.
“It was huge for our program,” Van Hooser said. “This new year we will have new goals. The new coach will have some goals of his own, but I set some for the team and think that we have come a long way.”
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
The Bowie sports banquets was on Monday night. Olivia Gill and Tucker Jones were named Jackrabbit and Lady Rabbit of the year. Pick up the mid-week paper for all of the sports team awards and pictures.
-
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
-
NEWS10 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