SPORTS
Bellevue girls lose bi-district playoff game to Newcastle
The Bellevue Lady Eagles’ season came to an end on Monday night in their bi-district playoff game against Newcastle.
The state-ranked Lady Cats won 54-20 against the Lady Eagles.
Bellevue knew it had a tough draw. It had just creeped into the fourth and final playoff spot as the team’s up and down district record reflected the overall youthfulness of the roster.
That inexperience caused the team to miss the playoffs the previous season for the first time in many years as the majority of the team were freshman.
A year older, the Lady Eagles played the top teams in the district well in some games, but came up short.
The biggest game was their win against Slidell. With the Lady Greyhounds moving up classifications to 2A, it was a nice memory for this group to get them one last time since Slidell were usually district champs.
Newcastle was a different beast than any other team Bellevue had played in district.
The Lady Cats were massive at almost every position and knew how to use their size advantage well. They had only lost one game all season and are ranked as the second best team in the state in 1A.
The first quarter saw the Lady Eagles break through Newcastle’s full-court press with little struggle and scored two of their three baskets before the defense was set.
The Lady Cats perimeter shooting was not going in and while Bellevue battled hard for rebounds, sometimes Newcastle’s height advantage when going for offensive rebounds allowed for quick put backs.
Newcastle led 13-8, but the Lady Eagles were being scrappy and making the Lady Cats work.
In the second quarter, Newcastle switched its defense to just straight man-to-man defense and Bellevue struggled for the rest of the game. Defenders seemed to stick to Lady Eagle players on the perimeter.
Any room created driving to the basket was closed when tall help defenders came to contest shots.
Bellevue scored only three points in the second and third quarter combined.
Meanwhile, Newcastle seemed to abandon hunting 3-point shots and mostly tried to attack the basket or shoot some open shots right outside the paint.
The Lady Cats led 29-8 at halftime and 37-11 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Lady Eagles executed their offense better in the final period, cutting sharply to the basket for some good looks that went in as they scored nine points.
Newcastle won 54-20.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
With the baseball and softball seasons over for the area 1A schools, district awards have been released.
Listed below are those earned honors on the field and in the classroom for Saint Jo and Bellevue.
Softball
Saint Jo
Honorable mention
Utility player: Taylor Patrick; Catcher: Jordyn O’Neal
Baseball
Superlatives
Offensive MVP: Devin Stewart, Saint Jo
Newcomer of the Year: Bryce Ramsey, Bellevue
Pitcher: Trent Gaston, Saint Jo
Outfielder: Jayden Curry, Saint Jo
Second team
Pitcher: Charlie Barclay, Saint Jo
Infielder: Brycen Bancroft, Bellevue; Sam Martin, Saint Jo
Outfielder: Rylan Forrester, Saint Jo
Catcher: Charlie Evans, Saint Jo
Utility: Logan Hoover, Saint Jo
DH: Amzy Barclay, Saint Jo
Honorable mention
Cody Gaston, Saint Jo; Xander Joyner, Saint Jo
To see academic awards from Saint Jo players, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
Eldon Van Hooser is leaving Forestburg better than he found it.
The head boy’s basketball coach is retiring after more than 30 years, spending the last five at Forestburg.
Van Hooser did not come to this decision because of a lack of fire or feeling tired after decades in the profession. He had to for family reasons.
“My wife has MS (multiple sclerosis) and it’s a disease where you have trouble standing and walking and she needs help,” Van Hooser said. “I am able to so I am going to step away from teaching and coaching to be there for her.”
Van Hooser was hired in 2019. Along with being the boy’s basketball coach, he also was the football team’s defensive coordinator.
There were some lean years for Forestburg on the boy’s athletic side, with numbers being low and the available athletes being mostly underclassmen.
For two years, the Longhorns’ boy’s basketball team won few games and one of those seasons saw the team field five players on the high school team.
“One of those years we had COVID-19 and the other we had five kids,” Van Hooser said. “It was very rough. After that we worked with the kids and we had a good freshman group coming up. Next year they are going to be seniors.”
That group has helped to turn the program around. Last year the young Longhorns team contested for a playoff spot and just barely missed it finishing fifth in the district.
This season, that same group took a leap and finished second in district with a record of 7-5.
Despite losing its last two regular season games in dramatic fashion heading into the playoffs, the team stepped up in the bi-district game.
Playing against an athletic Newcastle team, Forestburg led for most of the game.
Unfortunately, the previous game against Bellevue saw the Longhorn team blow the lead late in the fourth quarter against a hard pressing style team and they were suffering the same fate against the Bobcats down the stretch.
Fortunately, Forestburg held on just enough to win 53-46. It was the first boy’s basketball playoff win in nine years for Forestburg.
“It was huge for our program,” Van Hooser said. “This new year we will have new goals. The new coach will have some goals of his own, but I set some for the team and think that we have come a long way.”
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
The Bowie sports banquets was on Monday night. Olivia Gill and Tucker Jones were named Jackrabbit and Lady Rabbit of the year. Pick up the mid-week paper for all of the sports team awards and pictures.
-
NEWS1 year ago2 hurt, 1 jailed after shooting incident north of Nocona
-
NEWS6 months agoSuspect indicted, jailed in Tia Hutson murder
-
NEWS1 year agoSO investigating possible murder/suicide
-
NEWS1 year agoWreck takes the life of BHS teen, 16
-
NEWS10 months agoMurder unsolved – 1 year later Tia Hutson’s family angry, frustrated with no arrest
-
NEWS1 year ago
Sheriff’s office called out to infant’s death
-
NEWS1 year agoBowie Police face three-hour standoff after possible domestic fight
-
NEWS1 year ago
Driver stopped by a man running into the street, robbed at knifepoint