Facing a double-digit deficit in the second half of their first TexasBank Holiday Classic game of the day Thursday, the Brownwood Lady Lions’ comeback came up one rebound short. Head coach Heather Hohertz’s squad responded from that disappointing finish with perhaps their most complete outing of the season, and in turn clinched a spot in Friday night’s Girls Big School Division championship game.
The Lady Lions dropped a 37-36 decision to Midland Christian as a three-pointer following an offensive rebound with 14 seconds left proved to be the difference in the contest. Then, down 11-2 to start the game against Nolan Catholic, the Lady Lions went on a 42-14 run through the end of the third period en route to a 53-37 victory.
Brownwood, Nolan Catholic and Midland Christian each finished with 2-1 pool records, but the Lady Lions advanced to the championship with the largest margin of victory, as Nolan Catholic defeated Midland Christian by just five points Wednesday.
Against Nolan Catholic, the Lady Lions shot 35 percent (18 of 51) from the field, but drained 52 percent (11 of 21) of their three-pointers and committed only 15 turnovers, while also yanking down 29 rebounds with 14 coming on the offensive end. Defensively, Brownwood forced 25 Nolan Catholic turnovers with nine coming as a result of steals.
“That performance is what I’ve been looking for from them all year long, a really big team win,” said Lady Lions head coach Heather Hohertz. “Defensively, we adjusted to what we needed to adjust to, we skied for rebounds, and offensively Trin and Kimber caught fire and really helped us get going.”
Kimber Green led the charge with 23 points thanks in part to seven three-pointers, while post Trinity Roberts chipped in 18 points off the bench and drained a trio of three-pointers as well.
“Kimber’s always a spark plug and when she’s on, she’s on,” Hohertz said. “I’m glad that she found her touch, it’s nice to have that back. Trinity also had a big game. She did a really good job on No. 33 (Kanaya Carter, who scored a team-high 13 points), and so did Miranda (Northcutt), that’s who we tried to focus on. And Trin’s offensive game is really coming along. She has tons of potential and we’re seeing what we’ve been wanting all year long and it’s just awesome to see it coming out at the right time.”
Also scoring for Brownwood were Northcutt, Hannah Deen and Adyson Neel with three points apiece, Kate Tindol with two, and Icess Hall with one point.
Leading 30-25 at halftime, the Lady Lions held Nolan Catholic without a point for the entire third quarter, while Green went on an 11-0 run herself, aided by three consecutive three-pointers, to push the advantage to 41-25 at the 4:49 mark of the period. Following an offensive lull by both teams, Roberts capped the third quarter scoring with a trey to boost the lead to 44-25 with two seconds left in the frame.
“She really broke the game open right there in the third quarter,” Hohertz said of Green’s performance.
In the first quarter, down by nine points just 3:44 into the contest, the Lady Lions tallied 14 of the final 16 points in the period to carry a 16-13 advantage into the second quarter. The run began with a three-pointer by Green, then Roberts added a pair of buckets in the paint before Neel’s trey put Brownwood up for the first time, 12-11, with 2:16 left. Knotted at 13 in the closing seconds of the first period, Roberts’ first three-pointer of the night broke the tie and gave the Lady Lions the lead for good.
“What a way to bounce back after a slow start,” Hohertz said. “Some of them played a lot of minutes against Midland Christian so I knew legs would be a factor. We found a way to get a second wind and get that lactic acid out and they didn’t look back after that.”
In the loss to Midland Christian, a woeful shooting performance in the first half left the Lady Lions in an 18-10 hole at intermission. By the end of the third quarter, however, Brownwood had clawed its way back into a 28-all tie.
The Lady Lions opened a 32-28 lead with 6:12 left on a three-pointer by Green, but Midland Christian eventually knotted the score at 32. Tied again at 34, a short jumper from Tindol with 49 seconds left put the Lady Lions in position to steal the victory. But with 14 seconds to go, after a missed jumper, Midland Christian pulled down the offensive rebound and McKenzie Ramirez buried the go-ahead three-pointer. Brownwood had one final chance to snatch the win, but its three-point attempt was off the mark.
Hall scored a team-high nine points for Brownwood trailed by Roberts with eight, Green with seven, Tindol with five, Northcutt with four and Deen with three points.
The Lady Lions (15-7) will square off with Wellington in the Girls Big School Division championship game at 6:40 p.m. Friday at the Brownwood Coliseum for the second day in a row.
“I want to see what we have left in the tank,” Hohertz said. “Wellington is a really good team, they’re very fundamental, they can shoot the ball and they have good post players. I want to see them go out and compete, have fun like they did today, step up and make shots, fly around and get rebounds, enjoy the game and enjoy being each other’s teammate.”
