More than a week after upsetting Brock in the bi-district, the Bowie Lady Rabbits are set to take on Merkel in the area round on Saturday.
It may seem like the Lady Rabbits have this game in the bag looking from afar.
The Lady Badgers are a fourth seed, beating a Crane team that won the district title. Merkel won only five district games. Bowie should be the favorites.
Not so fast. The Lady Badgers share a district with Jim Ned and Wall, two teams who are ranked in the top 20 in the state.
Merkel lost both games against Wall by one score during district play, showing the team is not too far talent wise from some of the best teams.
“They have a good balance of guards and post play,” Coach Joe Crabb said. “They do a lot of unique things defensively. They are going to make things hard for us for sure.”
The Lady Rabbits biggest area of weakness is in the post, especially against bigger teams. While the team does a good job of rallying inside to avoid post up scoring, Bowie has given up a lot of offensive rebounds to teams, which gives teams multiple chances to score.
The big thing that can go in the Lady Rabbits favor is their aggressive full-court press defense. If Bowie can get a couple of easy baskets out of it, the team can dominate the game with their physical play.
The game is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Feb. 20 at Eastland High School.

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