GRAHAM – The No. 8 Brownwood Lady Lions set up a showdown with No. 3 Brock for the top spot in the District 6-4A standings with a 35-16 road triumph over the Graham Lady Blues Tuesday.
The victory was the 16th in a row for the Lady Lions (24-3, 4-0), and 350th in the career of head coach Heather Hohertz, who has spent the entirety of her career as a varsity head coach in Brownwood.
“It wasn’t pretty, but we’ll take it,” Hohertz said. “I don’t really calculate how many wins I have, it’s about the players that have been on the court, this team and the teams that have come before them. There are two former players on the bench with me now that are assistant coaches. Kudos to the kids for their hard work and dedication to the program and keeping it rolling year after year.”
The Lady Lions defense pitched a shutout in the second quarter and allowed just four points total in the opening half to Graham (8-17, 0-4) en route to a 24-4 advantage at halftime.
“Playing on Saturday and playing again today, with no school yesterday, it worried me,” Hohertz said. “I didn’t want this to be a trap game, and we’ve struggled here the past few years. We started slow, but my kids played really hard. Sometimes we didn’t convert, but they did fly around the court and make good things happen. We didn’t shoot the ball very well tonight, but it’s a win and now it puts us in position for a battle Thursday night.”
Brownwood, which was in front 12-4 after one frame, stretched its lead to 33-10 after three quarters, but tallied just two free throws in the fourth period.
“We came out flat after halftime and that was something we talked about in the locker room, finishing the job,” Hohertz said. “We started the third quarter with three or four turnovers, our mental focus just wasn’t there to start the second half. I don’t know if we had already moved on to Thursday, but we can’t have things like that happen. We have to focus on one play at time, one game at time and continue to play to our level of basketball.”
Nylah Hall scored a team-best 10 points for Brownwood followed by eight from Trinity Roberts, four each from Demayha Hooker and Icess Hall, three from Lanie Johnson, and two points apiece from Hannah Deen, Jade Morin and Jaidyn Hope.
Brownwood converted a mere 21 percent (11 of 53) of its shots – including 16 percent (3 of 18) of its treys and 52 percent (10 of 19) of its free throws – but grabbed 32 rebounds with 21 coming on the offensive end. The Lady Lions also forced 17 steals and tallied five blocked shots.
The Lady Lions are set to host No. 3 Brock (21-5, 4-0) – which defeated Glen Rose (17-13, 2-2) by a 53-36 count Tuesday – at 5:45 p.m. Thursday at Warren Gym with sole possession of first place in the 6-4A standings at stake in the final game of the first half of league play.
“Brock is playing extremely well right now and we’re going to have to be up to the challenge,” Hohertz said. “We can’t be wide-eyed, have deer eyes, we’re going to have to know and believe we’re just as good as they are and compete with them and put ourselves in a position. Brock’s players have been in this position, they’ve made deep playoff runs and we haven’t won a playoff game in a while. It’s going to be a playoff-type atmosphere and we’re going to be able to handle the pressure when things don’t go right. I have fighters, and we’ll see what comes out when a true test comes, but my kids are going to be ready. So please come out and support us, we need all the help we can get.”