The heartbreak hangover is still palpable for the Nocona Lady Indians and their fan base four days later, after falling a basket short of winning the 2A state title at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
The Lady Indians made it to the state title game following a close 44-42 win against Wellington on Friday morning only to lose to Martin’s Mill by the same score when Kara Nixon’s circus floater went in at the buzzer and shattered hearts.
While further research showed it was Nocona girl’s basketball programs second time at the state tournament ever, following the 1953 team, this Lady Indians team seemed like it was the one that was primed to make history.
With six years of excellence slowly building up to this season, with Nocona conquering last year’s demon by beating defending champion Lipan in the regional final, the Lady Indians were hoping things would bounce their way.
Martin’s Mill was the final demon standing in the way. The Lady Mustangs are a regular at the state tournament, having qualified 15 times in the past 18 years while winning six state championships.
Martin’s Mill had its own score to settle against Lipan. The two teams met last year in the state semifinal and Lipan won 32-30. When the teams met earlier this season, Lipan won twice by five and three points.
Still, this year’s Lady Mustang team was different to last year’s team, returning only one starter and populated by mostly underclassmen.
Martin’s Mill had knocked off the second ranked team in the state according to the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches poll Tenaha in the regional tournament and used a good second half against Goldthwaite to win by 11 points in the state semifinal to reach the championship game.
Like most games, Nocona was outsized at almost every position. Outside observers looking at both pedigree and rankings would have most likely leaned the Lady Mustangs way despite the team being relatively inexperienced and young.
When the game started, it was immediately clear both teams would be on equal footing.
Martin’s Mill played man-to-man defense, but closed hard to wall off the paint despite having a height advantage at most positions. The Lady Mustangs were not going to let Nocona’s top two scorers, Meg Meekins and Skyler Smith, get to the basket off the dribble unfettered. This left the Lady Indians players wide open 3-point shots and early on they were making them pay.
Reagan Phipps and Avery Crutsinger knocked some down in the first quarter. Despite the help brought, Meekins still scored on a circus shot at the rim and Smith drew free throws.
What the Lady Mustangs posed offensively was tough. Nixon was a long and crafty point guard, Alli Vaughan scored in a bruising fashion posting up or off the dribble, McKenna Wise was the six foot post player who’d rather take outside shots.
The lone senior who had state experience was 3-point shooter Kate Lindsey who had set a state record this year when she made 15 3-pointers in one game.
The team shared the ball well and plays usually had multiple actions going on with players on and off the ball coming off of screens, sometimes multiple ones, which tested Nocona players having to fight through them all game.
The Lady Indians played man-to-man, with an emphasis to bring help on drives since they were undersized. One player that benefited from that for the Lady Mustangs was Wise, who sunk a 3-pointer at the buzzer of the first quarter to put her team up 14-10.
The second quarter saw Meekins somehow impose her will, scoring six points from the mid-range in despite all of the attention she was garnering.
Smith scored on a feed from Meekins in the pick and roll through traffic for an and-one finish and completed the 3-point play.
Nocona got an awkward put back in the lane from Aubree Kleinhans and Crutsinger made another open 3-pointer in the quarter.
The Lady Indians at one point took a five-point lead before Martin’s Mill came back to tie the game up at 24-24 at halftime. One bad development was Kleinhans picking up three fouls and having to sit at the end of the quarter.
The defense picked up for Nocona as the team seemed to implement a bit more switches to keep players from getting lose off of screens in certain situations.
The Lady Indians held the Lady Mustangs to only four points and one made field goal in the third quarter.
Nocona thankfully hit two 3-pointers, one from Crutsinger and another from Smith while Meekins got to the free throw line and made both of them. While it wasn’t great offense, it was enough to give the team a 32-28 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
The one negative was Kleinhans picking up her fourth foul and having to sit some of the game out.
Thankfully her sub off the bench Jolie Rose contributed by grabbing three big offensive rebounds, a trend for the game where the undersized Lady Indians actually outrebounded Martin’s Mill 24-20 while grabbing nine offensive rebounds and scoring eight second chance points.
The fourth quarter started off great for Nocona. After the Lady Mustangs scored in the opening minute on a post up, Meekins scored in the mid-range, finished a crazy layup while getting fouled and then Smith knocked in a deep 3-pointer off the dribble on consecutive series.
The Lady Indians had their biggest lead of the game 39-30 with 5:29 left to play and Martin’s Mill took a time out.
Nocona knows how to play with the lead and started to run the clock down, but were not completely non aggressive. A couple of good attempts just did not go in and two turnovers gave the ball back to the Lady Greyhounds who’s backs were against the wall.
The first player they turned to was Wise who made a 3-pointer to cut the lead to six points. Then after a toughly contested layup attempt on offense left Nocona in a five-on-four predicament on defense in transition, a contested 3-pointer from the player trailing from behind was called for a foul.
It was Nixon for Martin’s Mill and the freshman made all three shots to cut it to three-point lead with 3:02 left.
Kleinhans came back into the game after a long sit with foul trouble. Nocona got to the free throw line and Meekins made one of her two attempts to make it a two possession game 40-36.
The Lady Mustangs came right down and ran Nixon off several screens off the ball for a corner 3-point shot that was still contested decently she made to cut the score to 40-39.
Nocona then messed up trying to hold the ball and committed a turnover on offense, giving Martin’s Mill a chance to take the lead. Thankfully, Meekins got the ball right back with a steal with 50 seconds left.
The Lady Mustangs had to foul and Smith went to the free throw line and made one of her two attempts to push Nocona’s lead to 41-39 with 29 seconds left.
Martin’s Mill went back to Nixon, who again came off some screens, then took a side step as she knocked in a 3-point shot to give the Lady Mustangs their first lead of the second half 42-41 with 14 seconds left.
The Lady Indians immediately answered back as Meekins drove to the basket, spun in the lane, split a double team and threw the ball up as she went down and drew free throws.
She missed the first, but then made the second one to tie the game up at 42-42 with 8.8 seconds left.
Martin’s Mill did not call a timeout and gave it immediately to Nixon. Meekins stalked her up the floor the entire way.
The two point guards had gone at it all game as their two team’s leading scorers.
Meekins’ quickness had not allowed Nixon to get completely by her all game without screens, but Nixon did this time through feints and crafty ball handling.
She put up a crazy floater at the buzzer that sent her to the ground and a whistle meant at least free throws would have been coming. They were not necessary.
The ball went in and the hearts of Nocona were shattered.
Martin’s Mill won 44-42 and with it the state championship.

To read the full story, as well as a story from Nocona’s game against Wellington in the state semifinals, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.