Looking to improve their likelihood of returning to the playoffs after a one-year hiatus, the Brownwood Lady Lions turned in perhaps their best half of basketball of the season to rally from a double-digit deficit for a 52-45 victory over the Lampasas Lady Badgers Friday night at Warren Gym.
With the win, the Lady Lions (19-12, 2-4) – barring any additional upsets – will likely finish tied with Lampasas (24-9, 3-3) for third place in the final District 6-4A standings. Brownwood can lock up a playoff spot with a win Tuesday night at Gatesville.
“This puts us in a good position, and I like our chances right now,” said Lady Lions 13th-year head coach Heather Hohertz. “This also gives us good chance to tie Lampasas for third place with two games to go.”
Tessa Goodwin led the Lady Lions with 18 points and a school-record 23 rebounds, followed by Kynslee Walker with 16 points, Mady Pyle with 11 – all in the second half – and Jaylen Savage with seven.
Lampasas was sparked by Payton Tatum with 15 points and Morgan Lovejoy with 14, but the duo was limited to a combined six points in second half.
Trailing 30-19 at halftime and 34-22 at the 6:22 mark of the third period, the Lady Lions responded by going on a 28-7 run over the next 11:02 to open a 50-41 advantage with 3:20 left in the contest.
“It wasn’t too pretty in the first half, but we challenged them at halftime to see what kind of team we were, if we were winners,” Hohertz said. “I told them I was tired of talking about it, I wanted to see action on the court. We fought our tails off in the second half. I couldn’t be more proud of a group. They fought back and they deserve this win.”
The Lady Lions’ charge began with a three-pointer from Pyle and later, down 37-30, Goodwin converted a traditional three-point play to bring the Lady Lions within four points at the 2:53 mark of the third. Then, with 15 seconds left in the quarter, Walker knocked down a long jumper to give Brownwood a 38-37 lead it carried into the final period.
“Kynslee made some good decisions and I thought she really stepped up in a leadership role, controlled the pace, and controlled the ball and where it needed to go,” Hohertz said. “She hit that big shot in the third quarter and we didn’t look back after that.”
Lampasas scored the first four points of the fourth quarter to regain a 41-38 edge, but Brownwood fired back with 12 in a row to seize control for good. Pyle’s three-pointer with 5:18 left pushed the Lady Lions in front, 42-41, then Goodwin added four points, Pyle hit another trey and Walker sank a free throw to cap the run.
“We knew we had to attack the boards and I thought the first game we didn’t use our athleticism,” Hohertz said. “We harped on them at halftime to get to the rim and Jaylen and Tessa finally responded to that. We also got our rotations corrected on defense.”
The Lady Lions forced 10 turnovers during the second half, including eight in the third period, after Lampasas gave away the ball just seven times in the first two quarters.
