The Brownwood Lady Lions began their 2021-22 basketball campaign with a resounding 56-29 victory over the Class 3A Eastland Lady Mavs Tuesday night at Warren Gym, as the program eyes a postseason return after missing the playoffs for the first time in 11 years last season.
“We started the game really well and traditionally we haven’t done that in the past,” said Lady Lions head coach Heather Hohertz. “We opened the game and our effort and defensive pressure was really, really good. We held them to eight points in the first half. Our rotation worked really well, and our energy was really good. We got lazy on a few possessions and that’s how they got the eight points.”
En route to a 22-8 halftime edge, the Lady Lions held Eastland scoreless for the initial 6:09 of the contest as Brownwood raced out to a 10-0 advantage, and 12-4 lead after one quarter.
Offensive inconsistency plagued the Lady Lions a year ago, but in Tuesday’s debut Brownwood knocked down 48 percent (21 of 44) of its field goal attempts, sparked by the play of Tessa Goodwin and Jaylen Savage inside.
“Jaylen struggled a little to start the game, she had an 0 for 6 start, but I pulled her out and told her to just calm down and shoot the ball,” Hohertz said. “Tessa came out really strong. She was going through her defender a lot better than she did last year and that’s exactly what we talked about. She came out really ready to play.”
Goodwin led the Lady Lions with 21 points trailed by Savage with 14, Alexa Arreola with seven, Mady Pyle and Kassidy Wooten with four apiece, Kynslee Walker and Lilly Brasher with two each, and Lexi Greer and Brianna Castaneda both added a free throw apiece.
“We didn’t really run an offense and we still scored 56 points,” Hohertz said. “If we can actually run an offense and execute we’ll be in pretty good shape.”
Along with yielding less than 30 points, the Lady Lion defense also forced 30 Eastland turnovers, including 16 on steals.
“I really liked our effort defensively,” Hohertz said. “We’ve got to fix some block outs here and there and not stand and watch, but other than that I really liked our rotation and us flying around.”
There were flaws in the Lady Lions’ game despite the lopsided victory, such as 24 turnovers, a 12 of 24 performance at the free throw line, 2 of 8 shooting beyond the three-point arc, and just 25 rebounds though 12 came on the offensive end.
“I really didn’t like how we turned the ball over 24 times,” Hohertz said. “They tried to pressure us but it was more of us turning the ball over than them causing it. We tried to push the ball a few times and that’s not really what we want. We have to clean that up and clean up our free throw shooting and three-point shooting. We can’t go 50 percent from the free throw, we can’t go 2 of 8 from three-point line, we have to really be an all-around team, we can’t just rely on Tessa and Jaylen every game. We have to really expand our whole team aspect.”
Leading comfortably by 14 points at halftime and 18 points early in the third period, the Lady Lions witnessed their lead slip to 26-13 following an Eastland three-pointer with 5:29 left in the quarter. Following a Brownwood timeout, the Lady Lions quickly wrestled away the only spurt of momentum Eastland established all night thanks to a run of nine straight points. A bucket by Goodwin started the run, then Arreola followed with a trey and a four-point play to stretch the cushion to 35-13 with 4:19 left in the third,
The Lady Lions (1-0) venture to Merkel for a 6:15 p.m. contest Friday, then are back at home at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday to host Lake Belton.
“I thought we had a really good crowd for the first game of the year and I encourage them to keep coming out and supporting the girls,” Hohertz said. “I think it’s going to be a really fun season.”
***
OTHER TUESDAY GIRLS BASKETBALL FINALS
Blanket 44, Lohn 23
May 27, Gordon 26
Brady 39, Early 34
Ballinger 42, Bangs 6
Priddy 59, Brookesmith 7
