SPORTS
Nocona girls win in overtime thriller 58-54
The Nocona Lady Indians had to dig deep as they matched up with the only other undefeated team in district, Childress, in an overtime thriller.
The Lady Indians outlasted the Lady Tigers to win 58-54 to take control of first place in the district standings with one game left to play in the first round.
The two teams had history brewing from last year’s games. Childress won the first matchup in its gym, winning 57-55. Nocona returned the favor in its own gym on senior night as an Averee Kleinhans buzzer-beater gave the Lady Indians a 43-40 win on the way to the district title.
The Lady Tigers also have their own player that fills up the basket with points. Versatile junior post player Grace Foster shared the district’s most valuable player award with Kleinhans last season when both players were just sophomores.
With a full year to plan for Foster, Nocona Coach Kyle Spitzer’s game plan was to make her a non factor.
It was an electric atmosphere as it seemed the whole town of Nocona had packed into the gym. Every basket and big play resulted in big cheers that were infectious. Even with the two hour trip, plenty of Childress fans and students made the trip as the winner would most likely have firm control at the top of the district.
From the opening tip, Foster was stalked and hounded by a Lady Indian defender trying to deny her the ball, even if she was just throwing the ball inbounds after a basket.
For most of the game that player was Chloe Daughtry, but Sydni Messer also had her time shadowing Foster in the second quarter.
The other four defenders were playing a 2-2 zone, also known as a box-and-one defense. Childeress could not get the ball inside to Foster and instead seemed content with creating open 3-point looks.
On the other side, the Lady Cats tried to limit Nocona getting the ball to Kleinhans in a similar way. With her being one of the Lady Indians lead ball handlers, Kleinhans was still able to fight her way to get control to initiate offense.
Nocona was looking to push the tempo early and got an early lead. Childress capitalized on its open shots from deep that helped keep pace, making four 3-pointers in the first quarter. Kleinhans proved too much early as she scored 12 points and the Lady Indians led 19-14 heading into the second quarter.
The second quarter was more of the same. Kleinhans got to the basket and free throw line and Kylie Rose got out in transition to score five points.
The Lady Cats continued to capitalize on their open looks they were getting from deep, making four more 3-pointers in the second quarter.
One of those came from Foster as she shot a deep shot off a pick and roll. A lot of Childress’ first half scoring came from Addilyn Keys, who made four 3-pointers herself and scored 13 points.
Nocona still held a little bit of a lead at halftime 32-31.
Changes were made defensively for the Lady Indians in the second half. Foster was still being hounded wherever she went, but the rest of the team were playing more man defense, with an emphasis on doubling Foster if she even thought about touching the ball.
This limited the looks from 3-point range for the Lady Cats, but they found another thing that worked. They started running pick and rolls with Foster setting the pick. With her defender glued on her, the ball handlers had some success getting all the way to the rim.
On offense Nocona stalled a bit, scoring only seven points. This allowed Childress to take the lead 41-39 heading into the final quarter.
It was a back-and-forth end to the game. The Lady Indians got a huge push offensively from Kleinhans as she scored all 11 points for the team in the quarter. The final one came with the score tied in the final minute.
Even with two defenders running at her, she navigated her way into the lane and scored an uncontested layup with 11 seconds left to put Nocona up 50-48.The Lady Cats answered as freshman point guard Chloe Teichelman made a shot in the lane with two seconds left to tie the score at 50-50 and send the game to overtime.
The Lady Indians started off the extra period on the right note as Trystin Fenoglio converted an and-one finish. Childress answered right away as Foster scored her only other basket of the game as she posted up and scored before help could come to cut the lead to 53-52.
After the Lady Tigers tied the score a minute later with free throws, Kleinhans got the free throw line and made one to give Nocona a 54-53 lead with less than two minutes to go.
After getting the ball back, the Lady Indians ran some clock before Fenoglio was sent to the free throw line with 34 seconds left. She made one to push the lead to 55-53.
Childress had a look at a corner 3-pointer that would have given the team the lead. The shot missed, but a Lady Tiger player grabbed the offensive rebound and was sent to the free throw line with a chance to tie the game with four seconds left. She made one, but missed the other.
Kleinhans grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 2.6 seconds left. She made the first free throw to push the lead up to 56-54 and tried to miss the second one on purpose so time would run off, but instead it was a violation.
Childress tried to draw up a long throw play down the court, but it was deflected out of bounds by a Lady Indian player on their side of the court and no time had run off from the clock.
With the ball in now favorable position on Nocona’s side of the court and 2.6 seconds left, the Lady Cats would have a great look at a last shot. Fortunately, the Lady Indians defense came through as Karlee Brown stole the ball before being fouled with virtually no time left.
She still went to the free throw line and knocked in both free throws, but with the time on 00.1 seconds left, the game was wrapped up anyway. Nocona would win 58-54.
The Lady Indians start the second round at home at 6 p.m. on Jan. 28 against City View.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
Saint Jo
The Saint Jo Lady Panthers again made a come back win against Perrin-Whitt in a high scoring affair that ended early.
The Lady Panthers won 20-10 against the Lady Pirates, winning after six innings due to run-rule.
Saint Jo’s last game had been 12 days earlier against the same Perrin-Whitt team it had also beaten in a high-scoring game 35-20. Another win would secure the Lady Panthers district title.
Saint Jo started off the game well, scoring five runs in the first inning and one more in the top of the second inning to go up 6-0. The Lady Pirates then reeled off nine runs in the bottom of the second inning which usually would change the whole momentum of the game with them up 9-6.
Perrin-Whitt added one more run in the third inning after holding Saint Jo scoreless, which is another rare feat in the team’s history of playing the other. The Lady Pirates led 10-6 and had momentum.
Then the Lady Panthers scored six runs in the fourth inning to take the lead back. Saint Jo’s pitching and defense tightened up to not allow any more runs in the final three innings while the Lady Panthers added four runs in both the fifth and sixth innings.
It was enough to end the game early by one inning, with Saint Jo winning 20-10.
Symbri Evans and Reagan Wilson each had four RBIs to lead the team while Mercedes Diaz was second with three RBIs. The team finished with 20 hits while drawing nine walks.
Defensively, Saint Jo allowed only seven walks, a good improvement from a lot of games where the total in the double-digits while the Lady Panther defense committed four fielding errors and allowed 15 hits.
The win wrapped up a district title for the team. For the girl’s program, it is the fourth team district title this season, having already secured one in volleyball, basketball and track.
Nocona
The Nocona Lady Indians ended their regular season on a sour note against one of the top teams in the district last week.
The Lady Indians lost to Lindsay 12-2, with the game ending after five innings due to run-rule.
Nocona was coming off of securing its first playoff appearance the previous week, but knew it would be tested against a Lady Knights team they had previously lost to handily in late March. The Lady Indians hoped they could competed better and try to treat the game like a playoff game.
Lindsay led after the first inning 1-0. Nocona came back in the second inning with two runs scored by RBI singles from Ashlynn Brown and Gwyndelyn Forsyth to take the lead 2-1. The Lady Knights tied the game with one run in the same inning to make it 2-2.
Unfortunately, the next three innings belonged to Lindsay. The Lady Knights scored six runs in the third inning to grab momentum. Lindsay then scored three runs in the fourth inning and one more in the fifth inning to end the game early due to run-rule.
The Lady Knights won 12-2.
Nocona ended with four hits while drawing six walks in the game. Lindsay finished with 11 hits and the Lady Indians committed four fielding errors.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
Nocona
The Nocona Indians picked up wins against Era last week to secure their second straight playoff appearance with one more game to play.
The Indians beat the Hornets 12-5 and by run-rule 10-0 after four and half innings.
Nocona was coming off of a tough series against Muenster, losing both games, playing well in one but not the other.
The Indians knew they had a good chance to beat Era if they played up to their potential and they showed it from the first inning in game one.
Nocona rallied off seven runs in the first inning before the Hornets had even bat to put itself in a good situation to possibly end the game early.
The only downside was the Indians were not able to offensively keep up the pressure. Nocona added one run in the seventh inning, two in the sixth and two more in the seventh inning.
Era scored four of its five runs in the final inning to put a bit of a sour note on an Indians win that could have finished stronger as Nocona won 12-5.
Miller Jentry led the team with four RBIs while Walker Murphey and Jayce Lehde each drove in two runs. The team had 16 total hits and drew five walks.
On the mound, RJ Walker pitched three innings and allowed no runs on two hits while striking out seven. The defense committed three fielding errors.
While letting the Hornets off the hook in the first game, Nocona made up for it in game two.
The Indians scored seven runs in one inning again, this time it coming in the second inning. Nocona added three runs the next two innings and shut out Era to secure the win by run-rule after four and half innings. The Indians won 10-0.
Brody Langford and Murphey each drove in two runs each to lead the team. Nocona finished with 10 hits, with four going for extra base hits while Era committed three fielding errors.
On the mound, Walker pitched all five innings and allowed no runs on two hits while striking out eight and walking two. The defense committed two fielding errors.
Saint Jo
The Saint Jo Panthers lost a tough game at Perrin-Whitt last week, with most of the damage coming in the sixth and final inning.
The Pirates scored eight runs in the sixth inning to win the game one inning early due to run-rule 16-6.
The Panthers were coming off an uplifting win against Bellevue that saw them come back several times the previous week on the road. Saint Jo had played Perrin-Whitt in late March and had lost both games in close fashion so the Panthers hoped this time would be a different outcome for them.
The Pirates scored four runs in the first two innings before Saint Jo answered with three runs scored in the third inning. Perrin-Whitt added one run in the same inning and three in the fourth inning.
The Panthers cut the lead down to two runs after scoring three more runs in the fifth inning, making the score 8-6 heading into the sixth inning.
Unfortunately, Saint Jo had an inning from hell, allowing eight runs on five singles, a triple, two walks and a hit batter. The final run scored ended the game early.
Perrin-Whitt won 16-6.
Charlie Barclay led the team with two RBIs while Devin Stewart, Trent Gaston, Charlie Evans and Rylan Forrester each drove in one run. Saint Jo finished with eight hits and drew seven walks.
Unfortunately, the Panthers gave up 12 hits and walked seven batters while committing two fielding errors.
Bellevue
The Bellevue Eagles only played one game last week due to weather concerns later in the week and lost to Perrin-Whitt.
The Pirates won 15-0 after four innings, winning by run-rule in a game the Eagles hopes to forget.
Bellevue had one from Brycen Bancroft and River Trail drew the only walk in a game where not much went right. Eight fielding errors from the Eagles, eight walks issues and six hits added up really fast.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
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