ALVORD – Aside from one bad quarter on Friday night, the Argyle Lady Eagles didn’t seem to have much trouble with District 8-3A rival Bowie in a first-place tiebreaker game to determine playoff seeding.

That bad third quarter almost proved costly for the Lady Eagles (28-8), but they were able to fight back with their floor leader in foul trouble and pull out a 56-44 win over the Lady Rabbits to earn the first-round bye in the playoffs, which begin next week.

“It wasn’t so much a rollercoaster ride,” said Argyle head coach Steve Schmidt. “It was more like one big dip that we couldn’t get out of [in the third quarter]. We just barely held on, but I’m proud that we found a way to get the momentum back and finish strong.”

The teams split the first two meetings of the season as Bowie won the first time around, 61-40 on Jan. 3, and Argyle came back to win 66-52 on Jan. 26 at home.

After taking a 13-point lead into the halftime break, Bowie (27-9) outscored Argyle 14-5 in the third quarter and tied the game with less than six minutes to go.

That’s when Argyle sophomore Colbea Harris came off the bench after taking a breather and closed out the game for the Lady Eagles.

After Bowie tied the score at 42 with two quick steals and layups, Harris found her sweet spot in the corner and hit her third 3-pointer of the night -- this time after being fouled -- then converted on the four-point play, which started a 10-0 run for the Lady Eagles to put the game out of reach and give them the winner of Dalhart and either Vernon or Iowa Park either next Friday or Saturday.

Harris finished the night with a game-high 17 points.

“Colbea had been on the bench so she came off a little cold,” Schmidt said. “When that happens you normally don’t want someone shooting from that far out but she was confident and stuck it in there.”

The next thing Bowie knew, the Lady Eagles had a 52-42 lead with under three minutes to play and the game was over thanks to some hot foul shooting from Argyle, led by Emma Forrer, who scored all 10 of her points at the line, hitting 10-of-12. The Lady Eagles finished the night 22-of-25 from the charity stripe, while Bowie hit six of 14 free throws. Bowie will play Comanche in the bi-district round of the playoffs.

Schmidt said Harris’ four-point play was the dagger that closed out the game for his team.

“When you get a 3-pointer and add another point on there, that can really get to a defense,” he said. “That was really huge for us.”

Argyle point guard Jessica Bonfield picked up her fourth foul with 2:23 to play in the third quarter and was limited the rest of the night, but other players like Harris and Forrer picked up her slack.

“That’s part of digging out of a hole,” Schmidt said. “We were able to maintain that lead instead of just completely fade away while Jessica was on the bench.”

Schmidt said the bye his team earned will help to heal some bumps and bruises that any team has at this point in the season, but he stressed the importance of not resting too much during the week off.

“It [the bye] is a luxury, there’s no doubt,” he said. “But we have to careful about our rest. We just can’t let loose and lose our edge because we’ve been playing with a lot of fire and a nice spark lately. We’ll have to use the time wisely.”

ADAM BOEDEKER can be reached at 940-566-6872. His e-mail address is aboedeker@dentonrc.com.

Argyle 56, Bowie 44

Argyle  15            18            5            18            --            56

Bowie  13            7            14            10            --            44

Argyle (27-8) – Amy Beecher 8, Emma Forrer 10, Sally Smith 2, Jessica Bonfield 7, Colbea Harris 17, Claire Pettibon 7, Brittany O’Brien 5.

Bowie (27-8) – Kendra Dunn 2, Megan Workman 11, Jordon Roth 3, Olivia Long 11, Rachel Austin 7, Kayle Reaves 11.