EARLY – The No. 18 Brownwood Lady Lions notched their season-best fourth consecutive victory, while handing the Early Lady Horns a second straight setback heading into the Thanksgiving break, 51-28, Tuesday afternoon.
“It was a nice way to go into the break,” said Brownwood head coach Heather Hohertz. “We played a lot of games the last few days. We were a little flat to start the game, we didn’t rotate or adjust defensively, but once we did we got some rebounds and got out in transition, which is what we do best, and were able to break open the game.”
Leading 18-10 after one quarter, the Lady Lions (7-1) limited the Lady Horns (6-3) to just a pair of second-quarter free throws en route to building a 32-12 halftime advantage.
“That’s what I’ve been talking to them about the whole year,” Hohertz said. “If your defense is set and rotating the way it should be, you don’t give up a lot of points. You give up points when you give up a lot of offensive rebounds, which is what we did in the first quarter, or if we foul. We talked at halftime about not fouling, blocking out and rebounding, which is a strength for Early. They did that well in the first half, but we adjusted to it.”
Brownwood, which carried a 38-23 advantage into the fourth period, was sparked by Jade Morin and Nylah Hall with 12 points each, Hannah Deen with eight, Icess Hall with six, Trinity Roberts and Jentry Coalson with four apiece, Demayha Hooker with three, and Jaidyn Hope with two points.
The Lady Lions shot 42 percent (20 of 48) from the floor, but only 12 percent (1 of 8) from the three-point arc. At the free throw line, however, Brownwood knocked down 91 percent (10 of 11) of its attempts.
“We weren’t turning the corner and attacking very well in the half-court set,” Hohertz said. “Early did a good job being physical with us and it took us out of what we wanted to do a little bit, but we have to know that when we play teams like this we have to be the aggressor, and at times today we weren’t consistent with that. The one consistent thing we did very well today was shoot free throws. We shot over 90 percent, we only missed one, so that was a positive to see.”
For Early, Avery Williams tallied a team-high nine points followed by Aliyah Harlan with eight, Andie Simpson with six, Abby Ferguson with three, and Gabby Benson two points.
“We’re still trying to put it all together for four full quarters,” said Early first-year head coach Trynadee Greenwell.
The Lady Horns resume their schedule Tuesday, Dec. 2 at May (5-1) in a 5 p.m. encounter.
Meanwhile, the Lady Lions have their toughest portion of the schedule to date ahead the week after Thanksgiving.
“We have a long week ahead coming back from the break,” Hohertz said. “We go to Jim Ned that Tuesday then we go to the Lorena tournament where we play four games in three days – two Thursday, one Friday and one Saturday – against quality opponents in College Station, Hutto, Lorena and Lubbock Liberty. It will definitely be a tough week to test us.”