SPORTS
Nocona girls scrape off the Frost 64-37
The Nocona Lady Indians stayed on script and won their area playoff game with ease on Thursday night in Weatherford.
The Lady Indians made quick work of Frost 64-37 to move on in the playoffs as they have their sights on the ultimate prize.
Nocona came into the game as the heavy favorites, rated ninth in the state in 2A in the Texas Association of the Basketball Coaches’ poll with only three losses on the season.
However, it seemed like the Lady Polar Bears might give some kind of challenge for the usual area matchup. Frost had just sneaked into the top 25 in the same 2A poll at 24, having gone 25-7 during the regular season and finished second in its district.
The Lady Polar Bears also were coming off an emotional win in the bi-district round, where they came back from 13 points down entering the fourth quarter to win against De Leon.
Still, Nocona showed there were levels to this type of success.
Both teams started the game pressing the ball on defense, but in different ways. The Lady Indians employed a three-quarters zone trapping style while Frost was trying to play classic man-to-man with some surprise doubles in the back-court.
The first two minutes were sloppy on offense until Nocona scored its first basket. Then the Lady Indians’ defense started forcing turnovers that led to transition opportunities and Nocona was up 10-0 midway through the first quarter.
From there, the game was essentially over.
The Lady Indians led 23-3 heading into the second quarter. Only a couple of late 3-pointers before halftime allowed the Lady Polar Bears to break into double-digits as Nocona was in control 46-10.
The second half saw the Lady Indians really pull back. They stopped pressing and played straight up zone to not pour it on and that allowed Frost to set up its offense. The Lady Polar Bears also used its size advantage to crash the offensive glass at times for second and third chances.
Also in the second half, Nocona started emptying its bench to cycle through all of its players to give them valuable varsity experience with the game already wrapped up.
Frost actually outscored the Lady Indians in the third quarter 10-9, but Nocona still had a comfortable lead 55-20 heading into the fourth quarter.
The final period saw the Lady Indians pull back even more, taking off both of their leading scorers and ball handlers Meg Meekins and Skyler Smith. This is unusual for Coach Kyle Spitzer as he plays both the majority of games no matter the score only unless they are in foul trouble.
Then the final two minutes saw the starting five of the JV team get some varsity experience, doing some things well but also having some tough moments.
Despite getting outscored 17-9 in the fourth quarter, Nocona won easily 64-37.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend 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.
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