SPORTS

Lady Rabbits run out of steam at Holliday

Published

3 years ago

01/20/2021

The Bowie Lady Rabbits lost a tough game at Holliday on Friday to lose their second district game.
The Lady Eagles pulled away in the final minutes of a close a game to win 66-56.
The beginning of the game saw the Lady Rabbits come out shooting great from beyond the arc. Against Holliday’s zone defense, Bowie made four 3-pointers.
The Lady Rabbits were trying to show different looks on defense from possession to possession, sometime pressing and sometimes not. What the Lady Eagles did establish was grabbing offensive rebounds.
This created multiple chances, including high percentage shots around the rim as Holliday’s size on the front line proved to be a problem.
It was a close first half. Bowie trailed 19-16 after the first quarter and fell a little further behind at halftime 36-31.
The Lady Rabbits found more lanes to the basket in the third quarter as the game picked up in intensity a bit. Bowie would tie the score or get within one, but multiple times the Lady Eagles would come right back and make a crucial 3-pointer to gain momentum right back.
The game was still close heading into the fourth quarter, with the Lady Rabbits hanging around trailing 51-47.
Bowie started to try and press on defense, cutting the lead to 51-49 early in the quarter. Unfortunately, Holliday did a good job of avoiding crucial mistakes and forcing fouls. Even when the action got crazy with a loose ball, the Lady Eagles always seemed to come out on top during this time.
Maybe because the defense wore them out or because the game was slipping away, but Bowie’s offense struggled to make any baskets in the quarter. The Lady Rabbits did get to the free throw line seven times and made them all, but only made one basket.
It wasn’t enough to keep up with the Lady Eagles, whose lead grew to eight and then 10 points during the quarter.
With both of Bowie’s leading scorers Abbi Gamblin and Jayci Logan fouling out in the final two minutes, there was little hope left.
Holliday made enough free throws down the stretch to win by double-digits 66-56.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.

SPORTS

District awards for 1A released

Published

6 hours ago

05/18/2024

bowienews

Bellevue’s Bryce Ramsey was named his district’s newcomer of the year.

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.

SPORTS

Forestburg coach retiring

Published

6 hours ago

05/18/2024

bowienews

Forestburg boys basketball coach Eldon Van Hooser helped lead the program to its first playoff win in nine years in his last year coaching.

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.

SPORTS

Bowie Sports Banquet

Published

3 days ago

05/15/2024

bowienews

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.