Seeking a fifth straight win and a spot in the TexasBank Holiday Classic championship game, the host Brownwood Lady Lions were turned away by TAPPS 6A program Fort Worth Nolan Catholic, 49-40, Wednesday night at the Brownwood Coliseum.
“We played really hard and really well in areas, but offensively we struggled,” said Lady Lions 13th-year head coach Heather Hohertz. “We were 1 for 12 from the three-point line and we struggled around the basket. We played our tails off, we just couldn’t get a bucket to go in around the rim. We’d miss a layup and in turn we’d give up a three-pointer on the other end. I can’t knock our effort, it’s hard to play four quarters when your shots aren’t falling. But effort-wise, I liked how we battled for four quarters because I haven’t seen that all year long.”
Jaylen Savage led the charge for the Lady Lions (15-8) with 19 points followed by nine from Tessa Goodwin, seven from Kassidy Wooten, three from Kynslee Walker and two points from Lexi Greer.
Fueling the Nolan Catholic (6-8) offense were Odessa Ozuna with 24 points, Samantha Watson with 10, Yarley Castillo with seven, Mattie O’Keefe and Isabella Chisholm with three each, and Kanaya Carter with two points.
The Lady Lions scored the first six points of the game, held a 14-8 edge with 2:25 left in the first, and carried a 16-14 lead into the second period. Nolan took its first lead, 22-20, on a three-pointer by Ozuna with 3:52 left until halftime. Brownwood then rallied to grab a 24-22 lead on back-to-back buckets by Savage with 1:47 to go. The Lady Lions didn’t score the rest of the half, while Nolan broke a 24-all tie when Ozuna sank three free throws with 2 seconds left before intermission.
Brownwood’s offensive woes continued into the second half as Nolan built a 31-24 lead at the 6:23 juncture of the third quarter. The Lady Lions tallied their first points of the second half with 5:11 left in the third on the first of two straight buckets by Savage. Wooten then recorded a steal and a layup as Brownwood crept within 31-30 at the 4:17 mark.
The Lady Lions remained within striking distance for most of the rest of the contest, but couldn’t get over the hump. Down 39-35 heading to the fourth, Savage scored all five of Brownwood’s points in the final stanza while Nolan attempted to milk the clock over the final four minutes after a three-pointer by O’Keefe put the Lady Lions in a 44-36 hole.
As for attempting to rally against an offense in stall mode, Hohertz said, “With our defense we don’t really pressure up, so when we do pressure up we have a hard time sometimes taking away the pass. We went to a triangle and two to take the ball out of the hands of No. 3 (Ozuna) and No. 14 (Watson). I thought we had some five-count calls that didn’t go our way, but if we would have finished around the rim we wouldn’t have put ourselves in that position.”
The Lady Lions will conclude tournament action at 1:20 p.m. Thursday at the Brownwood Coliseum against Goldthwaite in the third-place game. Brownwood defeated Goldthwaite, 53-38, at Warren Gym on Dec. 10.
“It’s going to be what’s left in the tank tomorrow, the fifth game in three days,” Hohertz said. “We can either show up and go through the motions because we’re disappointed that we didn’t get to the championship game or we can be mad at ourselves for letting this one slip away and go finish the tournament the right way.”
