STEPHENVILLE – Behind 20 points from senior point guard Icess Hall, the No. 8 Brownwood Lady Lions completed their first district sweep of Stephenville during head coach Heather Hohertz’s tenure, and also locked up the No. 1 seed for the 4A Division I playoff bracket from District 6 thanks to a 46-32 road victory over the Honeybees Tuesday night.
“I told them to continue to put yourselves in position where you control your own destiny, and we took care of business tonight,” Hohertz said. “It was a tremendous effort from my kids, I’m proud of them. The intensity they played with, they fed off the crowd, the ones that traveled over here, and I’m just proud of what these girls have done, and the fan base and community support. They’ve work hard for this and I’m glad it’s paying off for them.”
Regarding Hall’s offensive output, Hohertz said, “I’ve been so hard on her for four years, and she always responds. She doesn’t hang her head, she just gets in there and fights and keeps playing hard and she takes hard coaching. For her to step up big for us tonight, it couldn’t happen to a better person or a better player. She’s such a leader for our team. She’s struggled scoring some this year, but to see her leadership vocally and putting the team on her back tonight, I’m proud of her and that was great to see for her.”
Jade Morin also finished in double figures with 10 points for the Lady Lions.
“I looked back at some things and I knew we needed Jade to step up and score more tonight,” Hohertz said. “I had a gut feeling they were going to play a zone tonight and that’s an advantage to Jade because she can go find those gaps, and she’s such a scrapper and plays so hard that good things happen when she’s around the ball. I’m proud she got back in the scoring column tonight.”
Also scoring for Brownwood were Nylah Hall with eight points, Trinity Roberts with six and Jentry Coalson with two points.
Trailing 4-2 early, the Lady Lions scored the next 11 points to end the first quarter and start the second en route to a 13-4 edge. Back-to-back three-pointers by Roberts and Nylah Hall started the surge.
Stephenville (18-12, 3-5) closed the gap to 13-12, but Icess Hall halted the run with a three-pointer, and the Lady Lions carried an 18-14 edge into the halftime locker room.
After Stephenville again crept within a bucket, 20-18, the Lady Lions fired off 10 of the next 11 points to create a 30-19 advantage late in the third period. Nylah Hall drained a three, Roberts added a traditional three-point play, and Morin and Icess Hall contributed buckets during the spurt.
Carrying a 30-22 cushion into the fourth period, the Lady Lions allowed the first bucket of the final stanza, but Icess Hall and Morin answered with baskets as Brownwood opened a 34-24 lead, and the advantage remained in double figures the rest of the contest.
The Lady Lions will host Graham (8-21, 0-8) – which Brownwood defeated the first time in league action, 35-16, on Jan. 20 – in the home finale at 5:45 p.m. Friday and, with a victory, will visit No. 3 Brock (25-5, 8-0) Tuesday, Feb. 10 for the District 6-4A championship. Brownwood lost the first contest with Brock, 43-40, at Warren Gym on Jan. 22.
“Senior Night’s going to be a hard one,” Hohertz said. “I’ve coached Hannah (Deen) and Icess for many years. That’s going to be emotional for me and them. I’ve been dreading that day since they entered high school, and then I was lucky enough to get Lanie (Johnson) and Jade last year. But we need to be prepared Friday night so we have a chance to go compete for a district championship on Tuesday.”