SPORTS
Bowie girls open district with win
The Bowie Lady Rabbits started its district run on Friday at home against Henrietta as the cold front moved into Montague County.
The Lady Rabbits sent home the Lady Cats with bumps and bruises on the way to a 65-26 win.
The first quarter saw the game start off slow. Henrietta came out in a zone defense that did its best to prevent Bowie from passing the ball inside and dare the Lady Rabbits to shoot from outside.
Bowie obliged and made three 3-pointers in the first quarter, but failed to score in other ways.
The Lady Rabbits came out in their full-court press defense that early on proved almost too physical for the Lady Cats. Henrietta struggled to get past half court initially. Even when they started to break the press the Lady Cats struggled creating shot attempts and Bowie’s defense would usually force a turnover.
Unfortunately, Bowie struggled to convert these turnovers into chances in transition early on. The Lady Rabbits only led 9-5 heading into the second quarter.
The physical defense from Bowie led to foul calls and those added up in the second quarter. Post player Hope Jones went out with three fouls.
A particular action that led to an open backside cutter at the rim was exploited multiple times by Henrietta that made Coach Joe Crabb look like he wanted to tear out his remaining hair.
The Lady Cats cut the lead to 11-9 early in the quarter, but that was as close as they would get the rest of the game.
Jayci Logan, who made two of the 3-pointers in the first quarter, made two more in the second. The Lady Rabbits created better chances inside the arc. All of it led to a 22-13 lead at halftime.
The third quarter saw Bowie really open the game up. The press forced two quick turnovers that the team converted to layups in the first minute. From there the Lady Rabbits lead continued to grow as the nine point lead at halftime was now 21, 38-17 heading into the final quarter.
Things just got worse for Henrietta. Bowie’s press defense had completely worn down the Lady Cats ball handlers by this point and the turnovers kept coming.
Crabb sent out his starting lineup despite the lead to continue to get work for future games and the points continued to pile up.
Bowie’s 27 points in the fourth quarter was more than the team scored in the first half and led to the final score being as one-sided as it was. Henrietta scored its most points in the quarter as well, but could not keep up as the Lady Rabbits won 65-26.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week 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.
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