For the second day in a row, the Brownwood Lady Lions split their two games at the TexasBank Holiday Classic – dropping the first and bouncing back in the second.
Brownwood suffered a 37-30 loss to the Little River Academy Lady Bees at the Brownwood Coliseum, then later fended off a rally by the Coleman Bluekatts for a 35-29 triumph.
“Like the first game yesterday we were inconsistent with our turnovers and our rebounding,” said Lady Lions 14th-year head coach Heather Hohertz. “We flew around the second game and rebounded well and limited our turnovers, which leads to success.”
The Coleman game was a rematch of the Lady Lions’ 31-29 road victory on Dec. 6. In the second meeting, however, Brownwood owned a 9-3 edge after one quarter, 22-9 at halftime, and 26-14 heading into the fourth quarter.
“We played with a lot of energy and lot of effort, and you can’t coach those things,” Hohertz said. “We need to fix the little mistakes and the spurts of looking really good and then spurts of not looking so well. We have to try and be consistent with the small things.”
Coleman clawed its way back in the fourth period, where it scored more points in that quarter than the previous three combined. Brylei Gilbreath led the charge with 11 of her game-high 19 points in the fourth quarter, while the Bluekatts also received six points from Chaney Rosales, three from Vallyn Rosales, and one point from Katy Elder. But the Bluekatts also made just 5 of 16 free throws and committed 17 turnovers overall
Sparking Brownwood were Mady Pyle with 11 points followed by Hannah Deen with 10, Kimber Green with six, Kassidy Wooten with four, and Icess Hall and Miranda Northcutt with two each.
The Lady Lions converted 32 percent (15 of 47) of their shots, 15 percent (3 of 20) of their treys, and 15 percent (2 of 13) of their free throws. Brownwood also tallied 38 rebounds, 11 steals, five assists, and four blocks to help overcome 21 turnovers.
“I keep reminding them that they have to stay active whether the shots are falling or not,” Hohertz said. “You have to find a way to get a stop, and we talked about getting out and getting some steals and I thought we we did that in the first half. The second half we backed up on our heels a little bit but we found a way to win and that’s what counts right now.”
Against Academy, the Lady Lions shot 27 percent (10 of 37) from the field, 15 percent (3 of 20) at the three-point arc, and 70 percent (7 of 10) at the free throw line. Brownwood also pulled down 30 rebounds, forced eight steals and tallied seven assists, but committed 25 turnovers.
Kimber Green led the Lady Lions with eight points, all in the second quarter, trailed by Hannah Deen and Miranda Northcutt with five each, Talasia Green with four, Icess Hall with three, Mady Pyle and Sidney Windham with two points apiece, and Kassidy Wooten added a free throw.
Academy was fueled by eight points from Payten Conde, six each from Aislinn Chaffin and Rhea White, five apiece from Journee White and Hailey Lambert, three from Briann Warehime, and two points apiece from Hannah Garmon and Mackenzie Peters.
Brownwood led 7-5 after one quarter and 19-17 at halftime, but the momentum had already begun to swing in Academy’s favor before intermission.
Leading 18-11 with 2:29 left in the first half, the Lady Lions mustered just 12 points the rest of the contest.
For an 8:08 spell to end the first half and start the second, Brownwood sank just one free throw as Academy surged in front, 23-19, and never trailed again.
The Lady Lions closed the gap to 24-23 at the 2:02 mark of the third on a driving bucket by Deen, but Academy scored following an offensive rebound and drained a three-pointer to carry a 29-23 edge into the fourth quarter.
The Lady Lions and Valley Mills will square off for the second time at noon Friday at Warren Gym to conclude Classic action for Brownwood, which defeated the Lady Eagles, 43-28, Wednesday.
“I want to see us finish off five games in three days the right way and get ready to go into district play,” Hohertz said.
