The Nocona basketball games against City View on Tuesday saw the Lady Indians win by nearly 30 while the Indians lost a close one in overtime.
The Nocona girls won 74-42 while the boy’s team fell just short of upsetting the top team in the district losing 49-48.
The Lady Indians knew this wasn’t going to be the same old Lady Mustangs team of recent history. The young and athletic squad has shown everyone they are tough to pressure and trap and can make teams pay in transition.
Still, the undefeated Nocona squad going for its third straight district title took care of business. The Lady Indians defense kept City View in check in the first half, which allowed them to get out in transition and score at will.
Nocona scored 20 or more points in both the first and second quarters to build a big lead the Lady Mustangs had little hope of coming back from down 48-17.
That defensive intensity wavered a bit for the Lady Indians in the second half which led to not as many chances to push the ball in transition on offense for them. City View scored in double-figures in both the third and fourth quarters, while Nocona only scored seven points in the final quarter.
The Lady Indians still won by a lot, but that ending did not leave a good aftertaste for Coach Kyle Spitzer.
The Indians had something to prove heading into Tuesday’s game. The Indians first game of the new year against the Mustangs went about as bad as one could imagine. City View won 90-46 and proved that score was not a fluke, winning by 20 or more points against every other team in the district besides Holliday.
Things could only go better against the undefeated district leader and they did.
Nocona dictated how the game would be played, limiting City View’s looks from the 3-point line and playing a deliberately paced, half court game.
The Indians trailed for most of the game, falling behind 23-16 at halftime and down 32-24 heading into the fourth quarter.
It was then that Nocona’s offense came alive while with Adam Meekins and Brady McCasland combining to score 10 of the team’s 15 points in the quarter.
The defense did just enough to limit the Mustangs offense to just seven points, allowing the game to be tied at 39-39 and heading to overtime.
Both teams did a good job scoring in the extra period, with four different players scoring points on both sides. In the end, City View made one more play than Nocona to come out on top 49-48.

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