Behind a 45-percent shooting effort from the floor, the Brownwood Lady Lions rolled past the Eastland Lady Mavs, 67-54, Tuesday night at Warren Gym in the 2023-24 basketball season opener.
“We came out with great effort on both ends of the court,” said Lady Lions 15th-year head coach Heather Hohertz. “We flew around defensively, I was pleased with what we did rebounding-wise, and it’s always good to open the season with a win and gain some confidence. Obviously we have room to grow and we don’t want to be satisfied, but it’s a good start.”
The story of opening night, however, was the Lady Lion offense.
Led by 29 points from Kimber Green and 20 from Hannah Deen, Brownwood generated more points in its season opener than any game in the 2022-23 campaign, a season in which the Lady Lions finished 17-19 and qualified for the playoffs. Brownwood’s high-water mark a year ago was 65 points in a 41-point victory at San Angelo Lake View on Dec. 19.
“Kimber was really in rhythm with her three-pointers and Hannah was really attacking the basket with a purpose,” Hohertz said. “When you have two people with 20 points or more, what else can you ask for?”
The Lady Lions connected on 40 percent (9 of 22) of their three-point attempts to go along with 61 percent (16 of 26) of their free throws.
Miranda Northcutt chipped in seven points, Icess Hall added five, and Trinity Roberts and Adyson Neel both finished with three points.
“I was really happy with all of them,” Hohertz said of the offense. “Icess also hit a big three, Adyson Neel stepped up with a big three in the third quarter. I was pleased with our effort.”
Leading the charge defensively for the Lady Lions were Roberts and Kate Tindol, with 11 and 10 rebounds, respectively. Brownwood finished with 31 rebounds as a team and tallied seven steals.
“It’s not all about points,” Hohertz said. “Kate Tindol didn’t score one point but she had 10 rebounds and she was flying around and getting some big rebounds for us. She’s so athletic and it was nice to see her playing in a position she was comfortable in. And Trinity had 11 rebounds in her first varsity game as a freshman, so she came up big as well. You have to have people play big on the boards to go along with people scoring.”
For Eastland, former Stephenville Honeybee Mya Wesley scored a team-high 26 points trailed by nine from Ana Cunningham, five each from Londyn Carroll and Addison Daliege, two from Kesley Johnson, and one point Ari Montano.
The score was knotted at 19 after one quarter as Wesley contributed 15 of Eastland’s points, while the Lady Lions sank 11 of 17 free throws in the opening stanza.
“(Wesley) used to go to Stephenville so we knew what she brought to the table, that she’s a good shooter and she could attack,” Hohertz said. “They tried to set some screens on our guards to be a decoy and hit the shooter in the corner and I thought we adjusted to that well. We knew where No. 10 was when she caught the ball, we were able to slow her down and pull away from them.”
As for the fast start from the free throw line, Hohertz said, “This new rule (two free throw attempts after five fouls in each quarter) can play in your favor or against you, and it went in our favor tonight because we were not on our heels, we were attacking the basket and that’s what you want.”
Leading 32-27 at halftime, the Lady Lions stretched their advantage to 39-28 at 4:41 of the third quarter on one of Green’s seven three-pointers.
Eastland shaved that 11-point Brownwood lead down to five, 44-39, with nine seconds left in the third period, but Green drained another three-pointer at the buzzer to push the Lady Lions’ lead back to eight, 47-39. Deen then scored again on a drive in the paint just 19 seconds into the fourth period, as Brownwood quickly regained its double-digit advantage, 49-39, and cruised to the finish.
Brownwood at one point in the fourth quarter reeled off 11 consecutive points to stretch the advantage to 64-44, as the run peaked on a bucket by a Roberts with 2:41 to go. The Lady Lions matched their 20-point lead again – the largest of the contest – at 67-47 on the final trey from Green at the 1:12 mark, where Hohertz then cleared the bench.
The Lady Lions finished with 20 points in the fourth period, their highest scoring quarter of the contest, and only one of those points came at the free throw line.
“We’re not in the shape we want to be in right now, but they gutted it out and found their second wind,” Hohertz said. “They continued to get to the basket and continued to make big shots.”
The Lady Lions (1-0) will be back in action at 5:45 p.m. Friday when they host Merkel, the second of three straight home games to kick off the season.
