Young Lady Lions tip off basketball campaign at Eastland Tuesday

November 9, 2020 at 1:29 pm Derrick Stuckly

Brooke Price (32) is one of the key returnees for the Brownwood Lady Lions, who open their 2020-21 basketball season at Eastland at 6 p.m. Tuesday. {Photo by Derrick Stuckly}

As Brownwood Lady Lions head coach Heather Hohertz begins her 12th season in charge of the program, there may be more questions than answers at this point as the 2020-21 campaign tips off at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Eastland.

The Lady Lions – coming off a 19-13 campaign, second-place district finish and 11th straight playoff appearance – must replace four graudated seniors, including leading scorer Matyha Thompson who is now at Hill College.

“We lost four seniors and we’ll have six new faces on the varsity squad this year,” said Hohertz, who has posted a 237-118 record in 11 seasons at Brownwood. “We have a lot of inexperienced players moving up who aren’t use to the varsity level. We are going to use our speed and quickness to get up and down the floor and we’re going to rely on our 2-3 match-up zone to be our backbone and let the offensive side develop and take shape throughout the course of the year. Our expectations are going to compete game in and game out and to improve and by district compete for a district championship.”

Among the returnees for the Lady Lions are guards Alexa Arreola and CarolAnn Hetzel, and power forwards Lindsey Larose, Brooke Price and Jaylen Savage. Natalie Edmonds, a returnee from last year, will miss the season after ACL surgery.

“Brooke has had a great preseason and has really turned it up a notch,” Hohertz said. “We have had some early injuries and some in quarantine, but we hope to see big things from CarolAnn, Alexa, Jaylen and Lindsey this year.”

Newcomers include point guards Kynslee Walker and Mady Pyle, guard/forward Naysa Leach, and power forwards Sammy Yoder, Tessa Goodwin and Lexi Greer.

“Both the point guards will be thrown into the fire early,” Hohertz said. “Tessa will bring her length and size and Naysa will bring more defense to the team.”

Following Tuesday’s opener at Eastland, the Lady Lions will face Fredericksburg, Lake Belton, Lorena, Bangs, Wall, Jim Ned, San Angelo Central, San Saba, Goldthwaite, Cisco, Midland Greenwood, Abilene Wylie, Merkel, and Graham in pre-district action.

“I want us to compete every game and cherish each game that we do get,” Hohertz said of the pre-district goals. “We want to be able to establish our identity and let our offense develop into what it can be. This team has a lot of room to grow. Because of Covid and the shut down the summer tournaments and summer league were taken away from us so we still have to figure out our identity and gel has a team. The ones moving up will have to continue to adjust to the varsity level. We are going to continue to grow and compete every practice to get where we need to be.”

The eight-game District 6-4A slate – which includes Stephenville, Glen Rose, Lampasas and Gatesville twice – begins Jan. 5 at Glen Rose.

“Our new district will be extremely tough,” Hohertz said. “All five teams made the playoffs last year, but Stephenville will be the team to beat. Coach Hodges does a great job over there and returns his all-state post player. Like us, Glen Rose has a lot of young players moving up. They will be another tough opponent because of Coach Ghazal. Gatesville and Lampasas will be new to our district this year. Gatesville lost several to graduation as well but will compete hard. Lampasas, we haven’t played them in several years, but we did scrimmage them last year and they competed really hard.”

Regarding the long range outlook for the Lady Lions this season, Hohertz said, “This team has tremendous potential and can be as good as they want. The coaching staff will continue to put them in a situation to be successful. They have to go out and perform and put the preparation out on the court. We have been conditioning since Aug. 3, so we have been going at it extremely hard. Now we have to transfer over to the hardwood.”

Brownwood Lady Lions

Varsity Basketball Schedule

N10 at Eastland, 6 p.m.

N13 at Fredericksburg, 6 p.m.

N17 Lake Belton, 6 p.m.

N20 at Lorena, 6:15 p.m.

N21 at Bangs, 6:15 p.m

N24 at Wall, 3:30 p.m.

D1 Jim Ned, 6 p.m.

D4 at San Angelo Central, 6 p.m.

D8 at San Saba, 6:15 p.m.

D11 at Goldthwaite, 7:15 p.m.

D12 Cisco, 3:30 p.m.

D15 Midland Greenwood, 6:30 p.m. (at Merkel)

D18 Abilene Wylie, 3:30 p.m.

D29 Merkel, 4:30 p.m. (at Coliseum)

D31 Graham, 1:30 p.m.

*J5 at Glen Rose, 6 p.m.

*J8 Lampasas, 6 p.m.

*J12 at Gatesville, 6 p.m.

J15 OPEN

*J19 Stephenville, 6 p.m.

*J22 Glen Rose, 6 p.m.

*J26 at Lampasas, 7 p.m.

*J29 Gatesville, 6 p.m.

F2 OPEN

*F5 at Stephenville, 7 p.m.