Coming off perhaps their most frustrating defeat of the season – 39-30 at Graham Friday night – the Brownwood Lady Lions answered with their most important victory of the 2023-24 campaign to wrap up the first half of District 6-4A action.
The Lady Lions will head into their first district bye and the midway point of the league schedule with a 2-2 mark against 6-4A foes following Wednesday’s come-from-behind 43-37 victory over the No. 18 Stephenville Honeybees.
“I’m super proud of them,” said Lady Lions head coach Heather Hohertz. “It was a great team effort, the way we should perform and a great way to bounce back and we needed that. We faced some adversity Friday, some adversity with this game getting moved to Wednesday and getting out of our routine, but winners find a way and they did.”
With the win, Brownwood (18-10, 2-2) heads into the second half of district action – which begins at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday against No. 1 Glen Rose at Warren Gym – with both the No. 2 and No. 3 playoff seeds from the league in play.
Trailing by as many as seven points in the third quarter and down three points heading into the fourth period, the Lady Lions surrendered just one long range bucket during the final stanza while compiling a dozen points to complete the comeback.
Along with the stingy defensive effort, a key for the Lady Lions was continuing to pound the paint offensively, which eventually resulted in 26 free throw attempts in which Brownwood sank 15. Stephenville, meanwhile, settled for shots around the perimeter, which began to dry up as the game progressed, opposed to going inside, which resulted in just a 2 of 3 performance at the free throw line.
The Lady Lions also shot 33 percent (13 of 39) from the field, and overcame a 16 percent (2 of 12) effort from the three-point line as Trinity Roberts and Hannah Dean led the way inside with 11 points apiece. Icess Hall tacked on eight points, Adyson Neel chipped in six, Kate Tindol added four and 11 rebounds, Miranda Northcutt finished with two points and Kimber Green sank a free throw.
“Trinity was big for us on the block,” said Hohertz of the freshman, who also pulled down 13 rebounds. “When our threes weren’t falling, we only hit two three-pointers, she gave us another dimension when they were taking away our drive and really helped open up the offense with her back to the block. That’s the performance I was hoping to see from her.
“I also thought Hannah responded well after a tough first half. Stephenville did a good job of taking away what she wanted to do. She just had to settle down and get into the flow of the game. With Kate and Icess and Trin out there, that opened it up to help her get into the flow. I thought our bench was also great for us tonight. They really stepped up and got some minutes here and there to make sure our starters had enough in the tank to finish the game.”
The Lady Lions led 12-5 after one quarter only to witness Stephenville (18-9, 2-1) grab a 20-16 halftime lead that stood at 29-22 with 3:55 left in the third period. Brownwood trimmed the deficit to 34-31 by the end of the third quarter, then dominated the fourth.
A bucket from Roberts in the paint 46 seconds into the fourth quarter brought the Lady Lions within a point, 34-33, then Deen banked in a shot from just outside the lane at the 5:09, giving Brownwood its first lead, 35-34, since the 4:05 mark of the second period.
Tindol and Hall both went to the line and knocked down two free throws apiece to extend the Brownwood lead to 39-34 before Stephenville answered with its only points of the final quarter on a three-pointer by Caitlyn Skiles with 2:23 to go, making the score 39-37.
Deen converted two more free throws for Brownwood with 1:23 left to push the lead back to two possessions, 41-37. Then, with 30 seconds remaining, Green drew a crucial charge against Stephenville, returning possession to the Lady Lions where Roberts added the final points on a driving bucket with 22 seconds left on the clock.
Marin Copeland scored 11 points for the Honeybees followed by Skiles with nine and Brinley Hall with six.