SPORTS
Lady Indians heading back to regionals
The Nocona Lady Indians are heading back to the regional tournament this weekend after beating Cisco on Tuesday night in Graham.
The Lady Indians won 56-48 against the Lady Loboes in a game that got harry at the end.
Nocona came into the game as favorites, with 31 wins and ranked ninth in the state in 2A according to the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches poll, and second in Max Preps rankings.
It was not expected to be an easy game for the Lady Indians which they had made it look like since the beginning of January.
Cisco had 27 wins and were ranked 15th in the state in the TABC poll and sixth in the Max Preps rankings.
Not only that, the Lady Loboes were Nocona’s stylistic opposites.
The Lady Indians are used to playing with a size disadvantage, either vertically or horizontally which they overcome with feisty help defense and fast paced play on offense.
Cisco had a player who both towered over and had much more size than any Nocona player. Brooklyn Hurtado was listed at 6’3” and had several pounds on the Lady Indians post player Avery Crutsinger who is listed at 5’8.”
It was not just size though as the Lady Loboes whole offense is predicated on trying to get Hurtado the ball in the post and working from there.
The first quarter was competitive and close as Nocona made four 3-pointers and led 12-11.
The Lady Indians defense started to lock in on really preventing Hurtado from touching the ball, which threw off Cisco in the second and third quarters as the team failed to score in double-digits.
Skyler Smith carried Nocona’s offense in the second quarter, scoring eight of the team’s 18 points as the team started to pull ahead even with Meg Meekins falling into foul trouble. The Lady Indians led 30-19 at halftime.
Nocona kept it up in the third quarter on offense, with Meekins carrying the load and scoring nine points and Reagan Phipps making two 3-pointers.
The Lady Indians led 47-28 and looked like they were going to cruise to an ending with little drama in the final period..
Nocona took the gas off the pedal offensively to run some clock per Coach Kyle Spitzer’s instructions, though the directive was not to hold the ball.
That got the Lady Indians out of their offensive groove which left the door open for the Lady Loboes.
Cisco’s Hurtado had scored only four points in the first three quarters and Nocona was daring her teammates to beat them from the 3-point line.
The Lady Loboes had some relative success at it, making four 3-pointers in the first three quarters. With their backs against the wall with the season on the line, Cisco players took more chances and were more aggressive offensively.
The Lady Loboes made three 3-pointers in the final period and players who Nocona expected to not make shots were coming through for them.
Cisco had come all the way back to cut it to six points 49-43 with 53 seconds left when Smith fouled out for the Lady Indians.
Thankfully, Nocona was able to take care of the ball and were forced onto the free throw line four times in the final minute.
Meekins came through, going 7-8 at the line in the quarter while scoring all nine of the Lady Indians points in the final quarter.
It was enough to hold off the Lady Loboes as Nocona won 56-48.
to read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
Two former Bowie boy’s golf members played in the PGA University Championship on Nov. 12-13. (L-R) Cy Egenbacher and Imanol Walker are both in the Sam Houston University PGA Golf Managerment program. The team finished 16th overall. Egenbacher shot 168 during the two rounds and finished tied for 67th. Walker shot 180 and finished 84th. The tournament is a fun one for univesities that have PGA Golf Management programs, which is for individuals who want to work in the golf industry after graduation.
The Saint Jo Lady Panthers came up short at the regional final for the third straight season, one game away from state, on Saturday at the regional tournament in Midlothian.
The Lady Panthers beat Evant in straight sets 3-0 on Friday to reach the final game against Harrold which they lost 3-0.
Saint Jo knew before the season even started it would likely come to this big challenge, but it still had to go through all the steps to get there.
The Panthers reached the regional finals the previous two seasons, losing both times to eventual state champion Blum.
With district realignment meant a new region so a rematch with a Blum program that had graduated several key players from those teams would have to wait until state possibly.
Instead, a showdown against last year’s state runner-up Harrold was forecast in the regional final.
With the team having six seniors, with five of them having been on varsity since they were freshman, it was this year or bust for Saint Jo.
First, the Lady Panthers had to beat Evant. The Lady Elks leaned heavily on a big front court player. When she rotated to the back row, Evant showed almost no net resistance which meant Saint Jo hitters had free reign during that time.
The Lady Panthers won each set pretty easily, with the scores being 25-17, 25-17 and 25-19.
This set up the match with Harrold the team had been anticipating. The Lady Hornets had been at or near the top of the state standings since the beginning of the season.
Harrold had so much respect it had even played bigger local schools this season, beating Bowie in straight sets and Nocona in five sets during its pre-district schedule.
The two teams had met earlier in the season when the Lady Hornets attended Saint Jo’s hosted tournament. The two teams met in the tournament championship where Harrold won 2-1.
Still, with the tournament format being a best of three instead of five and the match after playing an exhausting schedule of five matches the previous two days, that result was not gospel, especially two months later.
The challenge is Harrold had multiple big hitters at the net, which is a big deal since most 1A teams are lucky to have one or two, which meant constant pressure on Saint Jo’s defense.
This also meant the Lady Panthers constantly had to find ways to attack the Lady Hornet defense as well or it would face strong hit after strong hit which was unsustainable for any team.
The first set saw the Lady Hornets get out to a good start before the Lady Panthers rallied back and took a little lead 8-7. Unfortunately, it started turn from there.
Harrold had some good runs from the service line that Saint Jo struggled to make much offense out of and led to the Lady Hornets pulling away. Harrold won 4-1 to get the lead to 11-9 and then extended it to 14-11, 17-13. Another 4-1 run and the Lady Hornets could smell the end of the first set coming.
The Lady Hornets won 25-17 to take the lead 1-0.
Saint Jo needed to bounce back, but unfortunately never got anything going in set two.
Harrold led 4-1 and then 8-2. The Lady Panthers would have needed a huge run at some point from the service line to get back into the set, but it never came as the Lady Hornets lead grew more and more.
Harrold took set two 25-13 to go up 2-0 and had all of the momentum.
Saint Jo had its back against the wall, knowing the only option was to hope for a comeback that would lead to a fifth set, but to get there it needed to win set three.
The Lady Panthers initially started on the right foot. After falling being 4-1 to start the previous two sets, it was Saint Jo that started well up 4-1. Unfortunately, the Lady Hornets came roaring back, going on an 8-2 run as it led 9-6, then 12-8 and 15-10.
It looked like it was heading towards a similar place as set one with Harrold slowly running away with the set before the Lady Panthers made one last gasp.
Saint Jo eventually cut the lead down to one point, trailing 20-19 as the set entered the final stretch and the Lady Panthers had their best momentum of the match.
Unfortunately, it was Harrold that was able to close the set out with momentum, earning the final five points to win 25-19 and the match 3-0.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News. For pictures from Friday’s match, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6870620&T=1
-
NEWS2 years ago2 hurt, 1 jailed after shooting incident north of Nocona
-
NEWS1 year agoSuspect indicted, jailed in Tia Hutson murder
-
NEWS2 years agoSO investigating possible murder/suicide
-
NEWS2 years agoWreck takes the life of BHS teen, 16
-
NEWS1 year agoMurder unsolved – 1 year later Tia Hutson’s family angry, frustrated with no arrest
-
NEWS2 years ago
Sheriff’s office called out to infant’s death
-
NEWS2 years agoBowie Police face three-hour standoff after possible domestic fight
-
NEWS2 years ago
Driver stopped by a man running into the street, robbed at knifepoint