For the first time since 2018, the host Brownwood Lady Lions are champions of the TexasBank Holiday Classic on the strength of their seventh consecutive victory, 53-36 over the Fort Worth Lake Country Christian Lady Eagles in the Girls Big School final Saturday night at the Brownwood Coliseum.
“That’s something I mentioned in the locker room before the game, that it’d been a while since we won the Classic, and let’s go get it done and finish this,” said Lady Lions head coach Heather Hohertz. “I told them to be relentless no matter what happened on the court, negative or positive, and they responded and did that.”
The Lady Lions (17-6) – who have won nine of their last 10 outings – also chalked up victories over Breckenridge, 53-18, Waco Connally, 58-34, and Fort Worth Nolan Catholic, 52-38, over the weekend en route to the tournament title.
“The girls are focused on a goal and working towards it one game at time,” Hohertz said of the Lady Lions’ surge. “As crazy as it is, the season is closer to the end than the beginning. We have one more game and then we start district and the records go out the window and we have to be on top of our game. I think they’re focused and ready to move forward.”
After converting 46 percent of their shots at the Coliseum Friday night, the Lady Lions turned around and knocked down 38 percent (20 of 53) of their field goals, including six three-pointers in the first half, which helped staked Brownwood to a 32-18 advantage at intermission.
“I told the girls after the game we need to play more of our games at the Coliseum because they shot the ball really well the last two games,” Hohertz said.
For the second straight night, Hannah Deen led Brownwood with 16 points trailed by nine from Trinity Roberts – all on three-pointers – eight from tournament MVP Icess Hall, seven off the bench from Lanie Johnson, five from Nylah Hall, four from Jade Morin and two points apiece from Kate Tindol and Miranda Northcutt.
“Lanie Johnson came in off the bench and played some big minutes for us and hit some big shots, and had five points right off the bat,” Hohertz said. “I told them right now is when we want to play our best basketball moving into district and I was just really proud of our performance.”
Defensively, the Lady Lions allowed no more than 11 points in any quarter as London Chandler paced Lake Country with 13 points followed by Sadie Gough with 10. Erika Hancock finished with eight points and Georgia Moore added five points.
“I thought our defense won the game for us,” Hohertz said. “We played gaps well, we contained No. 13 (Chandler), which was our focal point of the game. It didn’t matter which five were out there, they responded and took care of their jobs.”
After falling behind late in the first period, 10-9, on a three-pointer by Gough, the Lady Lions ended the opening quarter and started the second with a 14-2 run to seize control.
First, Johnson answered the Lake Country trey with the second three-pointer of the game for Brownwood to push the Lady Lions back in front, 12-10l Johnson then added her second bucket of the game with 26 seconds left in the first quarter for a 14-10 edge.
Lake Country scored the first bucket of the second period, but Roberts and Icess Hall responded with consecutive three-pointers to push the Lady Lions advantage out to 20-12 just 1:17 into the quarter.
Deen then scored on a drive and Icess Hall later added a free throw to boost the advantage to 23-12 with just under five minutes left in the first half. Lake Country got no closer than nine points the remainder of the contest as Brownwood led 32-18 at halftime and 44-29 through three frames.
As for the 88-game, 45-team, three-day tournament that took place in four gyms throughout Brownwood, Hohertz said, “I want to thank Roland Soto for helping host the tournament and want to give a big shout out to TexasBank for being our title sponsor. It’s really big for our community for all these teams to come in and we couldn’t do this tournament without our volunteers and sponsors.”
The Lady Lions will host Marble Falls at noon Tuesday in their final outing prior to the District 6-4A opener at Mineral Wells at 5:45 p.m. Friday.
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2024 TexasBank Holiday Classic Final Results
Pool A: Brownwood, Breckenridge, Waco Connally, Fort Worth Nolan Catholic
Pool B: Abilene High, Hereford, Fort Worth Lake County Christian, Georgetown East View
Brownwood 53, Breckenridge 18
Nolan Catholic 47, Waco Connally 44
Lake Country 56, Hereford 51
Abilene High 36, East View 19
Nolan Catholic 58, Breckenridge 37
East View 50, Lake Country 47
Brownwood 58, Waco Connally 34
Hereford 52, Abilene High 41
Lake Country 42, Abilene High 31
Hereford 49, East View 31
Waco Connally 54, Breckenridge 29
Brownwood 52, Nolan Catholic 38
East View 34, Breckenridge 23
Waco Connally 53, Abilene High 45
Nolan Catholic 50, Hereford 47
Brownwood 53, Lake Country Christian 36
***
BOYS GOLD BRACKET
Pool A: Gatesville, Greenwood, Academy
Pool B: Gordon, Alvarado, Jarrell
Pool C: Brownwood, Early, La Grange
Gordon 64, Jarrell 45
Gatesville 58, Greenwood 51
La Grange 71, Early 37
Gordon 68, Alvarado 66
Greenwood 52, Academy 43
Brownwood 72, Early 56
Gatesville 68, Academy 44
Alvarado 48, Jarrell 43
La Grange 83, Brownwood 77
Gatesville 52, Gordon 46
Alvarado 53, Greenwood 44
Academy 53, Jarrell 44
Alvarado 73, Brownwood 53
Jarrell 60, Early 56
Gatesville 63, La Grange 31
Greenwood 63, Brownwood 59
Academy 61, Early 41
Gordon 61, La Grange 36
***
GIRLS SMALL SCHOOL BRACKET
Pool A: Coleman, Richland Springs, Huckabay, Ozona
Pool B: Early, Bangs, Hamilton, Santo
Pool C: Goldthwaite, Dublin, Gorman
Game 1: Early 50, Hamilton 41
Game 4: Gorman 67, Dublin 12
Game 8: Huckabay 50, Coleman 31
Game 12: Ozona 36, Bangs 15
Game 17: Richland Springs 42, Santo 24
Game 20: Goldthwaite 52, Dublin 29
Game 22: Hamilton 73, Bangs 30
Game 25: Ozona 41, Early 38
Game 32: Gorman 37, Goldthwaite 18
Game 34: Richland Springs 29, Huckabay 27
Game 37: Coleman 33, Santo 32
Game 40: Dublin 35, Bangs 28
Game 42: Early 44, Goldthwaite 40
Game 54: Bangs 33, Santo 27
Game 56: Ozona 46, Richland Springs 41
Game 60: Early 47, Huckabay 46
Game 68: Hamilton 61, Coleman 22
Game 74: Gorman 44, Richland Springs 17
Game 78: Santo 54, Dublin 50
Game 79: Goldthwaite 51, Huckabay 31
Game 83: Hamilton 46, Richland Springs 22
Game 84: Ozona 35, Gorman 33
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BOYS SILVER BRACKET
Pool D: Comanche, Dublin, Santo, Wall
Pool F: Goldthwaite, Coleman, Lampasas, Big Spring
Game 2: Dublin 79, Santo 58
Game 10: Wall 77, Comanche 31
Game 13: Lampasas 73, Goldthwaite 45
Game 19: Big Spring 54, Coleman 32
Game 31: Dublin 82, Coleman 65
Game 35: Wall 65, Goldthwaite 40
Game 49: Lampasas 79, Comanche 41
Game 51: Big Spring 57, Santo 21
Game 52: Goldthwaite 69, Coleman 47
Game 59: Santo 56, Comanche 49
Game 63: Wall 82, Dublin 40
Game 64: Lampasas 63, Big Spring 40
Game 69: Big Spring 78, Dublin 77 (2 OTs)
Game 70: Coleman 76, Comanche 54
Game 75: Goldthwaite 47, Santo 15
Game 82: Wall 57, Lampasas 48
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BOYS BRONZE BRACKET
(All games except for the championship will be played at the Brownwood Middle School)
Teams: Bangs, May, Zephyr, Brownwood JV, Richland Springs, De Leon, Lingleville, Bartlett
Game 3: Lingleville 57, Zephyr 42
Game 7: Richland Springs 51, Bangs 44
Game 11: May 89, Brownwood JV 46
Game 15: De Leon 43, Bartlett 38
Game 23: Lingleville 76, Brownwood JV 29
Game 27: De Leon 55, Bangs 47
Game 39: Barlett 54, Richland Springs 51 (OT)
Game 43: May 72, Zephyr 32
Game 46: Bangs 54, Brownwood JV 49
Game 55: Zephyr 56, Richland Springs 55
Game 58: De Leon 45, Lingleville 44
Game 61: May 43, Bartlett 41
Game 67: Richland Springs 64, Brownwood JV 49
Game 73: Zephyr 47, Bangs 30
Game 76: Lingleville 45, Bartlett 39
Game 87: May 69, De Leon 32