Having witnessed a double-digit halftime advantage dwindle to four points midway through the third period, Brownwood head coach Heather Hohertz turned the game over to her reserves, who ignited a 36-8 closing run in the Lady Lions’ 57-25 District 6-4A home victory over the Mineral Wells Lady Rams Tuesday night.
“We talked at halftime that we couldn’t have a six-point quarter like we did in the second quarter,” said Lady Lions head coach Heather Hohertz. “You have to be consistent, you have to stay focused. I subbed in my bench in the third quarter and they gave us some energy to put the game out of reach.”
After what at one point was a 16-2 advantage and a 19-8 halftime cushion had evaporated to 21-17 at the 4:19 mark of the third period, the Brownwood (21-9, 3-3) line up experienced a wholesale chance. And when the third quarter had concluded, the Lady Lions had stretched their slim lead out to a game-high 18 points at 36-18 over Mineral Wells (15-13, 0-6) behind a 15-1 surge.
“With that group, we like to go to our 2-3 matchup which is a little change of pace from our man-to-man with our first group,” Hohertz said. “They played us mostly zone in the second half and that group is really good playing against the zone. Cassidy Brown and Miranda Northcutt work really well with the high-low and we have shooters in that group when they’re confident in themselves. Adyson Neel stepped up and made some three-pointers when they were kicking it out to her.”
Kate Tindol started the run with a bucket at the 3:03 mark of the third, and the Lady Lions quickly pushed the advantage back to double digits at the 1:55 mark, 28-18, on the first of five three-pointers from Neel. Brown then scored following an offensive rebound, Northcutt chipped in a free throw, Neel drained another trey, and Lanie Johnson scored following a steal to cap the third quarter.
The Lady Lions continued to extend the lead throughout the fourth period as a trey from Trinity Roberts, who led all scorers with 16 points, pushed the advantage over 20 points at 42-21 with 5:08 left.
Brownwood finished the game with a flourish as Neel converted three more three-pointers in the final two minutes, including one with two seconds left for the 32-point margin of victory.
“This team is a really good shooting team, but consistency has been the issue,” Hohertz said. “Across the board we have good shooters and when they’re focused and locked in, this type of result is what happens.”
Along with 16 points from Roberts and 15 from Neel, Jade Morin finished with nine points trailed by four each from Brown and Northcutt, three from Johnson, and two each from Tindol, Hannah Deen, and Icess Hall.
Brownwood shot 43 percent (20 of 46) from the floor, including 42 percent (9 of 21) from the three-point arc and 61 percent (8 of 13) at the free throw line. The Lady Lions overcame 20 turnovers thanks to 32 rebounds and 16 steals.
Mineral Wells was led by Jaylee Newman with 10 points.
The Lady Lions are back in action at 5:45 p.m. Friday at No. 3 Glen Rose, the 6-4A front-runner.
“It’s extremely tough to go play there, but I like where our team is right now,” Hohertz said. “We’re going to prepare for Glen Rose, we’re going to have a game plan, and we’re going to give it our best shot.”