SPORTS

Panthers season comes to an end

Published

5 years ago

03/02/2019

The roller coaster came to an end for the Saint Jo boy’s basketball team as the Panthers went up against one of the top teams in the state in the regional quarterfinals on March 25 in Bridgeport.
The Panthers were eventually overwhelmed by Graford, which kept pouring it on as the final score of 89-51, but the game was a bit more competitive through the first three quarters.
Saint Jo came out focused and ready to take things to the Jackrabbits, who featured large and bouncy six-foot-five-inch player Xavier Harrison in the post they knew they had to stop.
The usual pressing Panthers instead dropped back into a tight two-three zone defense. Graford initially tried to drive to the basket and could not convert on the tough layups.
Offensively from the opening possession, Saint Jo’s Preston Lyons was ready to play. A tough and contested mid-range shot went in. A contested three-pointer went in. A back door play to Blake Anderson opened up a 6-0 lead in the first two and half minutes into the game.
Besides scoring, Lyons helped out in other ways. The overzealous defender guarding him picked up two technicals directed at him and was kicked from the game in the second quarter.
It did not take long for the Jackrabbits to wake up. With Saint Jo crashing for offensive rebounds, Graford was able to score several transition baskets by beating the defense back, with ally-oops off the backboard and dunks from Harrison really getting the Jackrabbits going. In the next two minutes Graford took the lead 9-8 and led 16-13 heading into the second quarter.
In the first quarter it seemed like the Jackrabbits were hesitant to take any of the open three-pointers as they focused on trying to get the ball inside to Harrison. In the second quarter they started to shoot and make some three-pointers as the lead started to get away from Saint Jo. The Jackrabbits lead had grown to 29-18 the first two and half minutes into the quarter.
Offensively, the Panthers tried to drive hard to the basket against the Harrison, who had a penchant for getting into foul trouble all season.
On Monday, Saint Jo had no such luck as shot after shot was turned away as Harrison did his best to go straight up with both arms to not draw fouls.
Only Lyons was able to make a few of his crazy shots go in while the other points came at the free throw trips the Panthers were able to draw, with the fouls largely coming from other defenders. Graford’s point guard did get into foul trouble, but it did not seem to matter as the Jackrabbits lead grew to 41-25 at halftime.
The Panthers started the third quarter strong with five back-to-back baskets to cut the lead to 41-30, in the first minute and half. Unfortunately, that would be as close as they would get for the rest of the game.
Even with Saint Jo changing its defense to man-to-man to try and limit the perimeter shots, it opened up driving lanes for Graford to get the ball to the basket.
Also, transition opportunities were still getting taken advantage of as the Panthers six-man rotation wore down as the lead grew back to 58-40 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Panthers never gave up trying, but with time running down and the lead growing, the shots on offense became reckless. Pull up threes and futile drives to the basket after minimal ball movement led to easy baskets in transition.
There was a brief couple minutes where Saint Jo put on the full-court press and trap defense they played all year that worked when they surprised Graford with it, but once they figured it out the Jackrabbits easily exploited it with easy baskets on the back end.
The lead grew and grew until Coach Michael Wheeler called off his starters and put in his bench for the final two and half minutes.
Graford followed suit, but their bench poured on 11 more points to grow the lead to the final score of 89-51.

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

SPORTS

Saint Jo Softball Interview

Published

16 hours ago

04/29/2024

bowienews

Interview with Saint Jo softball players Jordyn O'Neal (left) and Maxey Johnson following their playoff win against Perrin-Whitt on April 24, 2024.

SPORTS

Nocona softball wins final game of the season against Alvord

Published

3 days ago

04/27/2024

bowienews

The Nocona Lady Indians played their final game of the regular season with a drubbing of Alvord at home.
The Lady Indians won 11-1 after six innings due to run-rule to end their season on a positive note despite no playoffs.
The game was rescheduled from last week due to weather.
Nocona was coming off a tough loss against Muenster the previous game, but knew it had a chance against Alvord after beating the Lady Bulldogs 6-4 in the first game.
The game started slow, but the Lady Indians got the lead with one run in the first inning. Alvord answered with one run in the third inning before Nocona retook the lead and never let it go.
The Lady Indians scored three runs in the third inning, two in the fourth, three in the fifth and the final two in the sixth inning to end the game on Charity Claxton’s sacrifice bunt that scored the last run.
Nocona won 11-1.

Coach Nolan Lanham thought it was the most complete game the team had played all season.
While he is sad this year’s season is complete, he is excited about what the team accomplished this year and what it can build off of it in the coming years.

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

SPORTS

Baseball Roundup

Published

3 days ago

04/27/2024

bowienews

Nocona
The Nocona Indians won their first game against Chico on Tuesday night to keep their playoff hopes alive.
The Indians won 9-4 against the Dragons.
Nocona was coming into the game after a close, low-scoring series against Perrin-Whitt that saw the Indians win one game and lose another.
The Indians took an early lead with Brody Langford driving in a run on a single. Chico answered with two runs in the same inning to take back the lead 2-1.
The teams exchanged runs in the next four innings.
Nocona tied the score at 2-2 in the second inning when RJ Walker hit a sacrifice fly ball deep enough to score one run. The Dragons took the back the lead with an RBI double in the third inning to make it 3-2.
The Indians again tied the score in the fourth inning when Langford hit into a fielder’s choice out with the bases loaded. Once again, Chico retook the lead in the fifth inning, also scoring on a fielder’s choice groundout to go up 4-3.
After a scoreless sixth inning, Nocona was down to its final three outs of the game.
With two runners on base and two outs and looking at a full-count, Caden Belcher came through for the Indians with a base hit. It scored the tying run and the second runner was waived home and had a chance to score the game’s winning run. He was just tagged out for out three, but not before Nocona had tied the score at 4-4.
Chico loaded the bases up with one out in the seventh inning, but Wesley Murphey stepped up and struck out the next two batters to get out of the jam scot free and force the game into extra-innings.
Nocona was still reeling from the momentum of the last inning and it came through in the eighth inning.
With two runners on base and two outs, the Indians started a two-out rally with Wesley Murphey hitting a triple that brought both runners home to score.
Langford followed with a single that drove in one run. Following another single, Konnor Harrington hit a single that drove in another run. Following a walk that loaded the bases, a passed ball allowed Nocona to score another run.
The Indians more than doubled their seven inning total, scoring five runs and leading 9-4.
Wesley Murphey and the defense then closed the door, striking out the first batter before inducing groundouts to shortstop and second base for outs two and three to end the game.

Saint Jo
The Saint Jo Panthers played their final regular season series in a double-header on Tuesday against Lindsay.
The bigger Knights won both games by run-rule, 12-2 after six innings and 15-2 after five innings.
Saint Jo had last played a week ago in a double-header against Muenster’s JV and varsity teams. The Panthers competed well with the JV team, but struggled more against the varsity team.
Lindsay had no JV team so Saint Jo had to play the 2A school twice and hoped it could compete.
The Knights got off to a fast start in game one, scoring seven runs in the first inning and never looking back.
The Panther defense played better from then on, never allowing Lindsay to score more than two runs in an inning and even holding the Knights scoreless in two innings.
Saint Jo was able to score in the fifth inning when the team loaded the bases and drew two walks to score two runs.
That was enough to keep the game from ending after five innings, but Lindsay scored two runs in the sixth inning to end the game early with the score 12-2.
The second game saw Lindsay score at least one run in every inning, highlighted by seven in the second inning.
Saint Jo scored two runs in the fourth inning. Charlie Evans hit an RBI double. Later he scored on the base paths after Lindsay failed to prevent a stolen base elsewhere.
The game ended after five innings with the Knights winning 15-2.

Bellevue
The Bellevue Eagles lost its final regular season game against Alvord on Tuesday.
The Bulldogs won 22-0 after four innings due to run-rule.
Bellevue knew it was going to be tough competing against a bigger school, but was hoping to compete.
Unfortunately, the Bulldogs came through and scored 14 runs in the first inning to suck any momentum from the Eagles before they had even had a chance to bat.
Bellevue prevented Alvord from scoring in the second inning, but not the third or fourth innings.
The Eagle bats did not have much luck scoring any runs as the Bulldogs won 22-0 after four innings.
Bryce Ramsey and Blake Reese got the only two hits for Bellevue in the game. Alvord racked up 15 hits, drew nine walks and were hit by five pitches which led to all of the runs.

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