The Bowie Lady Rabbits won their first district game of the season in a thriller at Henrietta on Tuesday night.
The Lady Rabbits just held on to win 46-44, barely surviving a furious late run by the Lady Cats in the final four minutes.
Bowie came into the game 0-9 in district play, having lost its leading scorer Ziba Robbins to a foot injury right before district started.
The Lady Rabbits have had struggles scoring consistently in games since then, not always sure where or who the points would come from game to game.
Henrietta came into the game with a 3-6 district record and had beaten Bowie the first time around 35-27.
Robbins returned for the first time the previous game, but was limited by caution and general rustiness. The gloves were off on Tuesday night.
Bowie got out to a scorching good start, up 10-1 midway through the first quarter. The Lady Rabbits were up 15-8 heading into the second quarter, feasting against the Lady Cats zone defense as they made four 3-pointers, each by different player.
After a couple of quick 3-pointers from Robbins to start the second quarter, Henrietta changed its defense to a box-and-one, shadowing her while playing zone.
It initially worked as Bowie was only able to score three more points in the quarter as the Lady Cats battled back to cut the lead to 24-20 at halftime.
In the third quarter, the Lady Rabbits did a good job getting control back. Bowie was able to get to the free throw line a lot, though the team did not make Henrietta pay as much as it could have going 3-10.
Still, the Lady Rabbits spread the scoring out, overloading one side of the floor to have a numbers advantage against the box-and-one look Henrietta was doing and finding more success.
Bowie also employed a light full-court press on defense to wear on the Lady Cats ball handlers.
The Lady Rabbits led 36-27 heading into the fourth quarter.
Halfway through the final period, Bowie was up 41-31 and looked like it had the game in hand. The Lady Cats got into desperation mode, upping the defensive pressure and playing harder.
Henrietta had cut the lead down to 41-39 with 1:55 to play on some tough baskets as momentum was building.
Following a made free throw from the Lady Rabbits, the Lady Cats cut the lead to one point 42-41 following an offensive put back with 1:14 left.
Bowie went ahead by three points when Hanna Bell scored following a steal in the back court. Henrietta then pulled up for a game-tying 3-pointer that went in with 33 seconds left.
With the score tied and the Lady Rabbits lead now gone, the home crowd was roaring as they seemed to sense the momentum would eventually put Henrietta ahead.
The Lady Cats were a bit overzealous with their pressure and fouled Robbins in the backcourt going for a steal with 24 seconds left.
She made both clutch free throws to put Bowie ahead 46-44.
Henrietta’s first driving layup was blocked, but the ball was stolen out of the Lady Rabbits players hands seconds later and another shot was blocked out of bounds underneath the basket. After an inbound pass to a player fell down, a desperate left-handed push shot was air-balled by a Lady Cat player.
Bowie had the ball underneath its own basket with four seconds left.
The pass inbounds was intercepted around half court and Henrietta threw up a desperate prayer of a shot that was not close at the buzzer.

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