COLORADO CITY – The Brownwood Lady Lions basketball season reached its conclusion Monday night in the Class 4A Division I bi-district round of the playoffs with a 48-31 loss to the Levelland Loboettes.
The Lady Lions (23-12), the second seed in the big school division from District 6, fell behind 9-3 after one quarter and trailed 26-13 at halftime as District 5 big school top seed Levelland (21-5) knocked down six three-pointers in the first half alone.
“Levelland came out and put it to us offensively,” said Lady Lions head coach Heather Hohertz. “They ran their stuff so well and hit shots, and some tough shots, a lot of times with a hand in their face. I told them you can’t relax, you have to stay on them because they have such quick releases, you can’t give them any space. We got behind the eight ball in the first quarter, and looked like a deer in the headlights the first two quarters. You can’t win playoff games playing on your heels and not playing aggressive.”
Facing a 40-18 deficit heading into the fourth period, the Lady Lions scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter to close the gap to 40-26 midway through the final stanza.
Hannah Deen finished with 13 points for Brownwood trailed by seven from Trinity Roberts, six from Jade Morin, three from Adyson Neel and two points from Icess Hall.
The Lady Lions shot 27 percent (13 of 49) from the floor, including 13 percent (3 of 23) from the three-point arc, and converted just 28 percent (2 of 7) of their free throws. Brownwood did pull down 34 rebounds, but committed 17 turnovers while creating just four steals.
Levelland was led by 14 points apiece from Emery Smith and Presley Smith.
The Lady Lions were making their 15th playoff appearance in 16 seasons under head coach Heather Hohertz, who has compiled a 326-191 record during her tenure at Brownwood, which was seeking its first postseason victory since 2018.
“We have to find a way to get over the hump,” Hohertz said. “I hope the underclassmen that are coming back are going to use this as motivation. It’s there, we just have to put it all together.”
Reflecting on the season, Hohertz said, “It’s been a really good group as a whole. They’re fun to be around and that’s what stinks about it when your season ends, you have to say good bye to a good group. We were together for 49 practices and more than 30 games and it’s hard to move on from that. The seniors are going to be successful as they move into college and into the real world. They’ve given back to the program and that’s all you can ask for.”