The Brownwood Lady Lions scored 13 consecutive points in the second period, fueled by a trio of three-pointers in succession, to distance themselves from the Early Lady Horns en route to a 52-22 non-district victory at Warren Gym Tuesday afternoon.
The Lady Lions (4-4) were leading just 14-9 a mere 41 seconds into the second quarter when Kassidy Wooten knocked down the first of eight Brownwood treys in the game, then Kimber Green followed with a pair to turn a five-point lead into a 23-9 cushion in a span on just under two minutes. Hannah Deen and Green later added free throws, and Icess Hall converted a layup to stake the Lady Lions to a 27-9 advantage with 4:18 left before halftime.
“We came out and shot the ball nervously,” said Lady Lions head coach Heather Hohertz. “I thought we came out a little hyped playing our first home game and our shots were really long. We settled in after that and shot the ball decent. We’re still struggling from the free throw line, but Kimber came off the bench and helped us getting going from the three-point line.”
By halftime, the Lady Horns (2-5) – who dropped their fourth straight contest – were facing a 35-17 deficit, which grew to 42-19 through three periods.
“We played a good first quarter and played like a basketball team should play with a lot of hustle, but I don’t know what happened after that,” said Lady Horns head coach Kristi Sweatman. “We have to put four quarters together and learn how to play good team defense.”
Brownwood finished the game converting 29 percent (17 of 58) of field goal attempts, 28 percent (8 of 28) of its three-point tries, and 47 percent (10 of 21) of its free throws.
Green led the Lady Lions with 17 points off the bench followed by Mady Pyle with 11, Deen with six, Wooten with five, Hall and Sidney Windham with four each, Miranda Northcutt with three, and Talasia Green with two points.
“I call Kimber our spark plug because she can come off the bench and give us that energy and when she makes a couple of shots that also gets her going defensively,” Hohertz said. “She really got us going and pushed us to come out on top today.”
The Lady Lions committed 14 turnovers and caused 21 thanks to 18 steals, while tallying 42 rebounds, 11 assists and a pair of blocked shots.
“We have to continue to get better at blocking out,” Hohertz said. “We’re struggling defensively to get rebounds and offensively we have to continue to develop around the basket. If our three-pointers are falling we’re tough to beat but if they aren’t, like in some of our tournament games, we struggle a little bit.”
For Early, Averey Horton led the way with a team-high eight points trailed by Dakota Barksdale with five, Jodie Lykes with four, Caroline Welker and Lindsey Bastardo with two apiece, and Memorie Castro with one point.
The Lady Horns are off until Tuesday, Nov. 29 when they host Sweetwater – a team Brownwood defeated 57-31 last week.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Sweatman said. “Fundamentally we have to work on our hustling, we have to work on our blocking out, and we have to work on our defense. It was a game in the first quarter, then we just made it not a game and that’s unfortunate. We’re all juniors and seniors and they have to learn how to play like juniors and seniors.”
Meanwhile, the Lady Lions return to action at 4 p.m. Tuesday in Glen Rose as they battle Class 6A Odessa in a neutral site, non-district tilt.
“Odessa’s real athletic and I hope we can slow them down and slow the pace of the game down,” Hohertz said. “The Glen Rose arena has been a tough place for us to shoot in the many district games we’ve played there, so I hope that we can go give what we have left in the tank and go into the Thanksgiving break on a good note.”
