The Brownwood Lady Lions tallied the first three points of Tuesday’s non-district contest with the Class 3A No. 7 Jim Ned Lady Indians at Warren Gym, then surrendered the next 20 points and never recovered in a 71-34 defeat.
“Any time you play Jim Ned you know they’re going to be good, year in and year out,” said Lady Lions head coach Heather Hohertz. “They’re a really good basketball team and they’re young. They had a lot of sophomores that played a lot as freshmen last year, where our youth kind of showed tonight.”
The Lady Lions (4-6) trailed 24-5 after one quarter, committing 10 of their 24 turnovers during the game’s first eight minutes.
“We weren’t really nervous but shell shocked by how well they could execute their offense and play defense,” Hohertz said. “We played OK for the first few minutes but it went south pretty fast. Our effort was really good, but it has to lead to something positive. We’d get steals and throw it right back to them.”
Icess Hall led Brownwood with 14 points, converting a trio of three-pointers, followed by Hannah Deen with nine points, Kassidy Wooten with four, Talasia Green, Olivia Ringer, and Kimber Green with two each and Sidney Windham with one point.
The Lady Lions forced 13 turnovers and did convert 11 of 15 free throws, including 7 of 8 in the fourth quarter.
Jim Ned (5-1) – which stretched its lead to 40-18 at halftime and 58-25 heading into the fourth quarter – received 14 points from sophomore Riley Grohman and 10 apiece from sophomore Addison Bradshaw and seniors Kate Bryant and Ashlynn Galvin.
“We have to continue to work to get better,” Hohertz said. “The standard we want to be at by the end of the season is the standard that Jim Ned is right now with all their young players.”
The Lady Lions will compete in the Lorena tournament this weekend, with their first two games Thursday against Killeen Ellison and host Lorena, which knocked off Brownwood earlier this season at the Hamilton tournament.
