In the midst of a four-game skid with each loss by at least 20 points, playing without their leading scorer and rebounder for the second game in a row, and having slipped into a fourth-place tie in the District 6-4A girls basketball standings, Friday’s home finale for the Brownwood Lady Lions was the very definition of desperation mode.
And on Senior Night at Warren Gym, the Lady Lions came through with their most spirited effort of the season, sparked by an 18-1 run in the second half to stun the Gatesville Lady Hornets, 50-36, and regain control of fourth place in the league standings.
With one game left in the regular season, the Lady Lions (9-13, 2-5) now lead Lampasas (18-8, 1-6) by one game for the fourth and final postseason berth from District 6-4A. Brownwood wraps up its season at No. 5 Stephenville next Friday, while Lampasas concludes its regular season Tuesday against No. 6 Glen Rose.
“I really challenged my team and I think they really responded,” said Lady Lions head coach Heather Hohertz, who has guided Brownwood to the playoffs in each of her previous 11 seasons. “I was super proud of my kids and the effort they brought. They were on the floor, flying after balls. We weren’t going to let what happened Tuesday happen again and they showed up in a big way.”
Filling in for Tessa Goodwin, who missed her second straight game due to concussion protocol, Jaylen Savage led Brownwood with a career-high 16 points. Senior Brooke Price turned in a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds, while fellow senior CarolAnn Hetzel chipped in nine points on a trio of three-pointers. Also scoring for the Lady Lions were Kynslee Walker with five points, Mady Pyle with three and Lindsey Larose with two points.
“When our offense is going our defense has so much energy, even when they’re tired,” Hohertz said. “They feed off of it. We hit some big threes, we transitioned and we were active, going and attacking balls and moving like we need to.”
Gatesville (7-12, 3-3) received 10 points from Allaiyah Jones and nine from Ainsley Warren, but no other Lady Hornet scored more than five points.
“They responded to the assignments they needed to be at and I’m super proud of them for that,” Hohertz said.
Brownwood trailed 24-18 at halftime after yielding the final eight points of the first half and faced a 32-27 deficit with 2:20 left in the third period, But the Lady Lions answered by reeling off 18 of the next 19 points to grab a 45-33 advantage with 4:01 left in the contest.
The surge began with a bucket inside from Savage, then Walker converted a three-point play to tie the game, and scored on a drive with 27 seconds left in the third period to give Brownwood a 34-32 edge heading to the fourth period.
Price opened the scoring in the fourth quarter by burying a three-pointer, boosting the lead to 37-32 with 7:19 to go.
“I challenged Brooke after Tuesday, she did not have one of her best games, and I just told her we couldn’t have that, we had to have her in a big way especially with Tessa out,” Hohertz said. “Her threes lifted us, her driving to the basket lifted us, but what I was most proud of was her rebounding, She was getting off the floor and attacking the ball. I told her she was the strongest person on the court and the only person stopping her from getting a rebound was her.”
A free throw from Gatesville snapped a run of 10 straight Brownwood points, but the Lady Lions started up a string of eight consecutive points with another drive from Savage, which made the score 39-33 with 5:56 left.
“Jaylen’s so athletic, she has such spring on the floor, and we told her to go attack No. 22 (post Jenna Coward), you can go by her,” Hohertz said. “I thought she did, she responded well to what we were challenging her to do.”
Price and Savage then combined to add three free throws to Brownwood’s tally, while the run culminated with a three-pointer by Hetzel, who nailed a pair in the first half.
Leading 45-33 midway through the third period, Brownwood’s lead slipped to 45-36 with 3:16 left, but Price drained another three-pointer with 2:19 remaining to boost the lead back to a dozen points, and Gatesville failed to score again.
The Lady Lions held Gatesville to four points over the final 10:20 of the contest.
For seniors Price, Hetzel and Larose – who were honored prior to the game – they closed out their Lady Lions careers at Warren Gym in emphatic fashion.
“The seniors knew this game was big for us so we didn’t potentially have to have a play-in game in two weeks and they all responded well,” Hohertz said. “Brooke came off the court maybe two or three minutes, Lindsey didn’t score much but her defense and rebounding and staying out of foul trouble was big for us, and Carol Ann hit some big threes for us. I’m very proud of how those three seniors responded.”
