SPORTS
Nocona girls get third at Decatur
The Nocona Lady Indians were able to finish in third place at the Decatur tournament on Monday and Tuesday.
The Lady Indians went 2-1 overall while playing against much bigger schools in the process.
Nocona is only in its second week with its full roster in a season that is expected to be another ambitious one, eying the state tournament.
To do that is to challenge itself against bigger schools that provide unique teams and players it most likely won’t have to face at the top of 2A, but is good to experience either way.
The Lady Indians started the tournament playing a 4A Randall team that had won 27 games.
It was a close game throughout. Nocona held a slight lead for most of the game and went into the fourth quarter holding a one-point lead 33-32.
The final period was an explosion of offense for both teams. The Lady Indians did a good job of playing with the lead and making free throws down the stretch to make it pay while the Lady Raiders had their leading scorer get hot. Nocona’s Meg Meekins did as well, scoring 17 of her team high 30 points in the fourth quarter.
The Lady Indians scored 26 points to help them hold on to win 59-51. Reagan Phipps was second on the team with 12 points, with nine coming in the fourth quarter.
The second game was against 5A Anna team that is coming off a 20 win season that won first place in its district.
The Lady Coyotes proved to be too much for Nocona as it won 68-51. The Lady Indians were trying to play catch-up from the start and just could not match Anna.
Meekins led the team with 23 points while Phipps again was second with 12 points.
Nocona played its final match of the tournament against private school RWG STEM from Arlington. Like most teams, the Lady Lions had a height advantage at most positions, but especially in the post in this game.
The Lady Indians gave extra attention on defense and had a pretty good 31-22 lead at halftime. RWG came back with a big third quarter to tie the score up at 38-38.
After a tight fourth quarter that saw both teams make clutch baskets down the stretch, the score was tied at 52-52 and the game headed to overtime.
Nocona made two quick 3-pointers to start the period to give itself the lead and was able to play with the lead and control the clock until the end of the game. The Lady Indians won 61-55.
Meekins led the team with 21 points as she was named to the all-tournament team. Aubree Kleinhans had her best offensive performance of the tournament, scoring 18 points.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News. For more pictures from the tournament, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6870776&T=1
The Red River High School Bass Club competed this past weekend, May 31 – June 1, at the State Tournament on Lake Conroe for the two-day tournament.
Two of the teams from Montague County traveled south to try their best at the culmination of the year for the state title. Teams were able to pre-fish on Friday before the Saturday and Sunday competition. On Friday, there was a flipping contest for the youth and Cooper Johnson won third overall and won a $500 scholarship and an Academy gift card.
The club’s two teams who competed were Lane Smith/Colt Henry with boat captain Jimmy Smith. The team placed 63rd with a total of 16.22 pounds. The second team of Cooper Johnson/Corbyn Patton and boat captain Jayson Toerck placed 169th with a total weight of 2.29 pounds.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
The Maskat Shrine Oil Bowl is this week on June 6-7 and graduating athletes from Bowie, Nocona and Saint Jo are confirmed to be playing.
In total, seven athletes from Bowie, five from Nocona and three from Saint Jo are planning to play in the all-star games this week. Nocona also will have a pair of coaches participating as well.
The girl’s basketball game kicks off events on June 6, scheduled for 6 p.m. at Wichita Falls Memorial High School. In the game, the east team will have Nocona players Avery Crutsinger, Meg Meekins and Reagan Phipps playing while Kyler Spitzer and Clayton Brown coach them one last time.
On the west team, Saint Jo’s Payzlie Cervantes is confirmed to be playing.
The boy’s basketball game is scheduled to follow at 7:30 p.m. On the east team, Bowie’s Boston Farris and Nocona’s Jose Gomez Jr. will be playing.
On June 7, the volleyball games are scheduled to start at 4 p.m. with the small school game. On the west team, Nocona’s Kaygan Stone and Saint Jo’s Taylor Patrick are confirmed to play. On the east team, Saint Jo’s Aubrey Morman will get to play her teammate.
There are no local athletes confirmed to be playing in the big school volleyball game.
The final event is the football game, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Memorial Stadium. It is an all Bowie affair with six players confirmed to be playing for the east team: Justin Clark, Jorge De Leon, Hunter Fluitt and Braden Rhyne, Preacher Chambers and Moh Azouak.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
Nocona Independent School District officials looked inward for a new athletic director/head football coach, selecting Jeff Hill for the position.
Hill, who served last year as Nocona football’s offensive coordinator and also led the softball program to the playoffs for the first time in a while as its head coach, was upgraded to the role.
This came on the heels of former Athletic Director Blake Crutsinger, who served in the role the last four years, resigned in May.
For Hill, the choice to apply for the position was a no brainer. His one year in Nocona had impressed upon him and his wife that it was the place they would like to be long term.
“I’m looking for a town to raise my kids in and Nocona has treated my family really well,” Hill said. “There are some really good people. The kids work hard. Everything I am looking for in a hometown is right here in Nocona and I want to try and make it as best as it can be, especially through athletics.”
Before Nocona, Hill served as the athletic director at S&S Consolidated while also spending time at Hebron and Whitewright in his coaching career.
Hill expresses great respect for the departing Crutsinger and besides changing a few small things in how he personally wants to do things, he is not trying to come in with a sweeping restructuring of the whole athletic department.
The program had five of its six team sports make the playoffs, with volleyball playing in the regional final and the girl’s basketball team winning the state championship.
That along with two athletes competing at the state championship in cross country and track with one earning a gold medal, it was one of the more successful school years in athletic program history.
“Coach Crutsinger was awesome and did a great job so honestly just little tweaks, a little bit of structure and cohesion amongst the coaching staff between boys and girls,” Hill said. “I hope to keep the winning tradition going overall in the athletic department.”
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
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