Forestburg vs Gold-Burg
The Forestburg Lady Horns came back from a double-digit halftime deficit against Gold-Burg on Friday to pick up their first district win of the season.
The Lady Horns squeaked out a 39-38 win against the Lady Bears.
Both teams had faced tough teams to start off district play so far and knew Friday’s game would be the best chance for each to win its first district game.
Gold-Burg came in with the more experienced group full of upper classmen while Forestburg was younger and its depth issues made some games tough with only one substitute.
Early on the Lady Bears pounded the ball inside to Sadie Weaver and worked from there, scoring in several different ways. Gold-Burg led 14-4 as Forestburg only was able to get a couple of baskets inside.
The second quarter was more of the same though the Lady Horns had a bit more success on offense. Still, Gold-Burg continued to play like the better team as it led 26-12 at halftime.
Forestburg switched its defenses to get some trapping action which worked to throw off the Lady Bears. Gold-Burg committed too many turnovers on the perimeter, several the Lady Horns were able to turn into transition opportunities.
This limited the Lady Bears to only six points in the third quarter. While Forestburg did not score nearly enough to fully catch up yet, the lead was down to single-digits 32-23 heading into the fourth quarter.
Forestburg continued to chip away as its two best scorers Braylee Briles and Allie Cisneros scored in bunches. Gold-Burg was still out of sorts on offense with Weaver getting into foul trouble before fouling out and the Lady Horns aggressive defense.
Forestburg came all the way back to take the lead 35-34 with 2:38 left to play after Cisneros made a 3-pointer. She extended the lead a few seconds later after stealing the ball and scoring on the other end.
Gold-Burg cut the lead to one point 37-36 shortly after when Shadie Whitaker broke through the Lady Horns press to score on a layup.
Forestburg extended the lead shortly after when Briles made both of her free throws to make the score 39-36 with 2:04 left.
The Lady Bears had three trips to the free throw line in the next minute, but only made two of the attempts to cut the lead to one point 39-38. At this points Briles fouled out of the game with 53 seconds left.
Forestburg had a chance to extend its lead with free throws but missed with 34 seconds left. Both teams exchanged possessions, but turnovers and desperation led to the time winding down and a last second heave came after the final buzzer from Gold-Burg.
The Lady Horns held on to win the game 39-38.
Cisneros and Briles both led Forestburg with 14 points each. Briles also led the team with seven steals. Madisen Deason hauled in a team high 13 rebounds.
For Gold-Burg, Destinie Weaver led the team with 10 points while Sadie Weaver was second with nine points.

Nocona
The Nocona Lady Indians started off district on Friday with a win against Petrolia.
The Lady Indians won 76-31 to start off district well.
Nocona comes into district play undefeated and ranked among the top teams in 2A in many polls, with the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches poll ranking the Lady Indians first.
They played like it as they jumped out to 17-9 lead in the first quarter. The second quarter was more even as Nocona lost some of its urgency. Still, the Lady Indians led 30-21 at halftime, but they are used to winning games by double-digits.
With some halftime adjustments to limit Petrolia’s good guards that had some success in the second quarter, Nocona limited the Lady Pirates to only 10 points in the second half.
This unlocked the Lady Indians transition play as they ran all over the Petrolia team, especially in the fourth quarter when they scored 30 points.
Nocona won easily 76-31.
Megyn Meekins led the team with 27 points and 12 assists while Skyler Smith also had a double-double with 17 points and 14 rebounds. Reagan Phipps joined the pair in double-figures scoring 15 points as she made five 3-pointers. Avery Crutsinger pulled down 10 rebounds to go with five points while Sydnee Mowry nearly joined the double-figures club by scoring nine points.

Prairie Valley
The Prairie Valley Lady Bulldogs lost a tough, low scoring game against Midway on Friday.
The Lady Falcons won 36-27 against a Lady Buldogs team that was clawing their way back into the game for most of it.
Despite the final score, the first quarter proved to be the most high scoring. Midway got out on top making three 3-pointers and leading 15-9. The rest of the game saw points get harder to come by as both teams clamped down.
Prairie Valley battled all the way back to cut the lead to 27-25 heading into the fourth quarter.
Unfortunately, the Lady Bulldogs ran out of steam as they scored only one basket in the final period as the Lady Falcons slowly extended their lead back out with free throw attempts as they won 36-27.
Karagan Ritchie led the team with 12 points. Sara Horton grabbed a team high 10 rebounds to go with eight points. Carmen Gomez also had 10 rebounds while passing out a team leading five assists.

Bellevue
The Bellevue Lady Eagles had a tough night against district leader Slidell on Friday.
Slidell won 59-18 against the young Bellevue squad, though Coach John McGee thought the team played better than the final score would indicate.
“We missed a lot of free throws and layups,” McGee said. “We were leading 5-0 in the first quarter for about three or four minutes into the game. We just couldn’t put the ball in the hoop. We are young and inexperienced this year, but we are in the rebuilding stage.”

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