Following a lackluster 46-35 setback at the hands of Fort Worth Lake Country Christian to kick off the TexasBank Holiday Classic, the Brownwood Lady Lions regrouped and secured their fourth victory in the last five outings, 43-28 over Valley Mills Wednesday night at Warren Gym.
“The first game was a morning game, we came out slow, but we played well enough to win,” said Lady Lions 14th-year head coach Heather Hohertz. “We just didn’t block out and gave up 19 offensive rebounds and then we were 9 of 22 from the free throw line. If you don’t rebound the ball you’re not going to be successful. Tonight we did better with our rebounding, we were locked in defensively and Kimber (Green) hit some big shots off the bench for us to get us going offensively.”
Against Valley Mills, the Lady Lions (11-12) shot 26 percent (17 of 65) from the floor, 25 percent (7 of 28) from three-point land, and 22 percent (2 of 9) at the free throw line. But Brownwood pulled down 40 rebounds, forced 19 turnovers, dished out 11 assists and turned over the ball just 11 times.
Green came off the bench to again lead the Lady Lions in scoring with 18 points trailed by eight each from Mady Pyle and Hannah Deen, three from Kassidy Wooten, two each from Olivia Ringer and Miranda Northcutt, and one point apiece from Sidney Windham and Icess Hall.
Valley Mills (7-7) received 14 points from Reese Brittain, four from Ezra Busch, three each from Lacee Engelbrecht and Hydee Hilburn, and two apiece from Kamryn Pankonien and Madison Reyes.
Trailing 4-2 with just 2:44 left in the first period, the Lady Lions reeled off the last nine points of the quarter for an 11-4 advantage. Then, just 34 seconds into the second period, Pyle drained her second three-pointer of the game to stake Brownwood to a double-digit lead of 14-4.
Valley Mills crept within 20-14 with 1:56 left in the first half thanks to a five-point surge, but Brownwood reclaimed its double-digit edge, 24-14, by halftime, thanks to buckets from Green and Ringer.
Through three periods, the Lady Lions’ lead stood at 27-16 as Green drained a trey with seven seconds left in the frame to boost the advantage back to double figures.
Valley Mills whittled Brownwood’s lead down to 34-27 with 3:02 to go, but a pair of three-pointers from Green, with a Hall free throw sandwiched between, extended the Lady Lions’ cushion to 41-27 with 2:19 left, essentially securing the win for the maroon and white.
Brownwood wraps up pool play at 1:20 p.m. Thursday at the Brownwood Coliseum against Little River Academy, which defeated Valley Mills, 53-36, Wednesday.
“We’re going to play a tough Little River Academy team and we have to get tough underneath,” Hohertz said. “I thought our post players had good effort, but we weren’t strong with the ball. We have to get it off the top of the head, we have to have two hands on it and be strong with it. They also have a pretty good guard we’re going to have to contain and know where she is on the outside perimeter. But the main thing I want to see is us play consistent for four quarters in all phases of the game and keep getting better.”
