Following a 19-percent (8 of 43) shooting performance as a team, and 50 percent effort (4 of 8) at the free throw line, the District 6-4A fourth seed Lady Lions bowed out of the postseason with a 24-22 loss to District 5-4A top seed Graham.
“We started the game really well, but the second quarter really hurt us when we only scored two points in that quarter,” Hohertz said. “When you don’t make shots in playoff games, you’re not going to win many games. We played hard, we just couldn’t get the shots to fall and they hit the shots when they needed them.”
In a rematch of a 37-30 road victory for Brownwood (20-14) on Jan. 4, Graham (16-16) scored 15 of the final 24 points, erasing a 13-9 edge for the Lady Lions at the 5:42 mark of the third period.
Trailing 21-17 with 2:49 left, Kynslee Walker buried a three-pointer to bring Brownwood within a point, then Graham attempted to stall. After a Lady Lion foul and a Graham missed free throw attempt, Tessa Goodwin’s driving bucket with 1:32 to go pushed Brownwood back in front, 22-21.
Graham answered just 19 seconds later with the go-ahead trey by Katie Coyac, while Brownwood failed to convert a couple of three-point attempts down the stretch, as the Lady Lions sank just 2 of 17 long balls.
“We had one busted possession on defense all night and it was there at the end,” Hohertz said. “We took a one-point lead and were supposed to be in our zone defense, but one of us was in man to man and let 10 get open for the shot.”
The Lady Lions owned an 8-4 lead after one quarter, a 10-9 edge at halftime and the game was knotted at 13 through three quarters.
Jaylen Savage led Brownwood with eight points, with six coming in the first half, followed by Goodwin with six points, Walker with five and Mady Pyle with three points.
Graham received 10 from Katherine Gober, six from Coyac on a pair of fourth-quarter treys, and four each from Rachel Grimsley and Emilee Gordy.
Reflecting on her 13th season as head coach of the Lady Lions, Hohertz said, “Twenty wins is a good mark for a season but we wanted to add a gold ball. It just wasn’t in the cards tonight. It’s been a fun group to coach, and as frustrating as some of our games have been this year they’ve been a joy to be around. I know the seniors are going to go and be successful in whatever they choose to do. They’ve meant a lot to the program, they’ve been with it for four years, and this is definitely not how they wanted to go out tonight.”
Tuesday’s games concluded the Lady Lion basketball careers of Savage, Goodwin, Walker, Lexi Greer and Brianna Castaneda.