Nocona
The Nocona Indians opened up district play with a close, low-scoring win at home against Seymour.
The Indians held on to win 29-28 against the Panthers as neither team had a good shooting night.
Nocona came into district play confident, with a tough non-district schedule and enough success to be ranked 14th in the state in 2A in some polls.
Seymour showed it would not be a walk in the park, with the Panthers giving the Indians their only district loss last season and looked to do it again this year.
The first quarter set the tone as Nocona led by one with the low score of 6-5. The pace did not increase much as the game went along, even with the middle quarters being the highest scoring for both teams.
The Indians led 15-13 at halftime and extended the lead to 25-22 heading into the fourth quarter.
Seymour only outscored Nocona in the final period. The Indians added only four more points. The Panthers cut the lead to one point with 1:52 remaining. Somehow, Nocona held on as neither team scored again, the Indians winning 29-28.

Saint Jo vs Prairie Valley
The Prairie Valley Bulldogs earned their first district win at Saint Jo on Friday night.
The Bulldogs won 50-43 in a game where they went into the fourth quarter behind.
Saint Jo was coming into the game following a disappointing loss, its first in district, at Forestburg. Prairie Valley was hoping to get its first win after struggling in its first four games.
The first quarter was competitive as the Panthers led by only one 12-11. The Bulldogs pulled ahead in the second quarter, with their defense limiting Saint Jo to only eight points while their offense scored 16 with four different players making one basket each.
Prairie Valley was feeling good up 27-20 at halftime.
The Panthers came out of halftime fired up. Saint Jo nearly doubled its first half production in the third quarter alone as the team made four 3-pointers and scored 19 points.
Just as importantly, the Panthers defense limited the Bulldogs to just five points, all from leading scorer Tyson Easterling.
Saint Jo led 39-32 heading into the fourth quarter and had the momentum.
Unfortunately for the Panthers, like Prairie Valley responded in the final period. The increase in intensity and pressure from the Bulldogs defense seemed to put an end to Saint Jo’s offensive run. The Panthers scored only four points in the fourth quarter.
This left the door open for Prairie Valley to come back if it could have a good offensive quarter. Thankfully for the Bulldogs, they saved their best scoring stretch for last.
Prairie Valley scored 18 points in the final period, allowing the team to take the lead and control of the game before holding on to win 50-43.

Gold-Burg vs Bellevue
The Gold-Burg Bears won their second straight district game against Bellevue at home on Friday night.
The Bears won 64-55 against the Eagles.
Gold-Burg was coming off a good win against Prairie Valley to pick up its first district win. Bellevue had picked up its second district win earlier in the week against Midway.
The Bears got out to a lead thanks to forcing turnovers and scoring in transition. It was not a good night from 3-point range for Gold-Burg, as the team went 3-17, which allowed the Eagles to hang around all game.
The Bears led 14-10 after the first quarter, 30-24 at halftime and 48-38 heading into the fourth quarter.
Gold-Burg never ran away with the game, but still won with little drama at the end 64-55.

Missing scores
The Forestburg boy’s team did not play Friday.

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