The Brownwood Lady Lions finished the Classic with a 3-2 mark and are 13-13 on the season.
The Brownwood Lady Lions trailed by eight points in the first half before rallying, then again by six points in the second half before emerging with a 52-49 victory over the Valley Mills Lady Eagles in Friday afternoon’s TexasBank Holiday Classic finale at Warren Gym.
The Lady Lions finished the tournament with three victories in five games, including two over Valley Mills as Brownwood also knocked off the Lady Eagles, 43-28, on Wednesday.
“Credit to Valley Mills for coming out and hitting lots of shots that they didn’t hit the other day when we played them,” said Lady Lions 14th-year head coach Heather Hohertz. “I kept telling the girls that ours would fall, we just had to keep shooting. Five games in three days is always tough, but we found a way to win.”
Brownwood’s key to the comeback was its ability to create fouls and get to the free throw, as half of the Lady Lions’ points came from the charity stripe. Brownwood connected on 26 of 45 attempts at the free throw line (58 percent), while converting just 21 percent (10 of 48) of its field goals, including 20 percent (6 of 30) of its three-pointers.
“When we were in the one-and-one in the first quarter, I told my assistants that I hope we make some free throws today,” Hohertz said. “The first half was kind of rough, but we challenged them at halftime and told them it would come down to free throws because we were going to continue to be aggressive and attack the basket. They stepped up when we need to make them.”
Free throws are what ultimately decided the game as, tied at 49 with 1:46 remaining, the Lady Lions got the line three times and converted half their attempts – one each by Kimber Green, Hannah Deen and Mady Pyle—for the final three-point margin. The Brownwood defense, meanwhile, created 11 of Valley Mills’ 21 turnovers in the fourth quarter, as the Lady Eagles struggled to get shots off down the closing stretch.
Green again led the Lady Lions in scoring off the bench with 20 points followed by Pyle with 11, Icess Hall with nine, Deen with four, Sidney Windham with three, Kassidy Wooten and Miranda Northcutt with two points, and Talasia Green with one.
“She’s been a fireplug for us all year,” Hohertz said of Kimber Green. “When I put her in today her shots were falling and then she created havoc defensively. She’s a nice little spark to have.”
Valley Mills – which knocked down seven three-pointers – received 20 points from Reese Brittain, 12 from Hydee Hilburn, nine from Madison Reyes, five from Kameryn Kelly, and three points from Lacee Engelbrecht.
Brownwood found itself down as much as 19-11 in the first quarter before closing the gap to 19-15 at the end of the period on a buzzer-beating three-pointer by Pyle.
“We broke down a little bit in the first half, we were tired on our heels,” Hohertz said of the defense. “I challenged them at the end of the first quarter to get active and we got some steals in the second quarter. We had to lock down on No. 10 (Brittain) and No. 0 (Hilburn) and we did that. They hit a couple of shots in the fourth quarter, but we locked down when we needed to and found a way.”
The Lady Lions scored the final six points of the first half to grab a 30-28 halftime edge. Another three-pointer from Pyle brought Brownwood within one, 28-27, with 37 seconds left. Hall was later fouled, and a technical was called on the Valley Mills bench at the same time, which resulted in three successful free throws for the Lady Lions and a two-point edge at the break.
Brownwood opened a 33-28 early in the third period, but Valley Mills reeled off 10 straight points – including nine on three consecutive three-pointers – to grab a 38-33 lead over the Lady Lions.
Trailing 40-34 with 1:09 left in the third period, Brownwood closed the gap to 40-36 at the end of the quarter thanks to a pair of free throws from Windham in the closing seconds.
Down four with 5:39 left, four straight free throws from Hall and Green knotted the score at 43. Then, Green drained a trey with 5:16 left to stake Brownwood to a 46-43 advantage.
Valley Mills clawed back and evened the score at 47 with 3:18 to go, and the remainder of the game’s points came at the free throw line.
The Lady Lions (13-13) will host Marble Falls at 6 p.m. Tuesday in their final game prior to the start of District 6-4A action.
“We still haven’t reached anywhere near our potential or where we should be, so we have to keep pushing and grinding and trying to reach that potential in district and then into the playoffs,” Hohertz said.
