A 13-1 run to start the second quarter, and a 13-2 spurt to end the contest proved to be the difference as the No. 9 Brownwood Lady Lions opened District 6-4A basketball action Friday night at Warren Gym with their 13th consecutive victory, 47-27 over Mineral Wells.
“Nerves are a little different going into district, but opening up and getting the first win is always good,” said Lady Lions 17th-year head coach Heather Hohertz. “There’s a been a lot of years we’ve been hoping to do a lot of things and be successful in district, but this year we know we’re going to get everybody’s best, so we have to be consistent and play to our potential.”
Brownwood shot 32 percent (17 of 53) from the floor, 28 percent (6 of 21) from three-point land, and 53 percent (7 of 13) from the free throw stripe. The Lady Lions also committed just nine turnovers, grabbed 22 rebounds and tallied 10 steals.
Nylah Hall scored a team-high 12 points for the Lady Lions (21-3, 1-0) followed by Trinity Roberts with 11, Icess Hall with eight, Jaidyn Hope with seven, Hannah Deen with three in her return from illness, and Jentry Coalson, Jade Morin, and Demahya Hooker chipped in two points apiece.
Mineral Wells (13-11, 0-1) received 10 points from Addyson Moore and six points apiece from Aniya Richardson and Jentry Jeter.
Trailing 8-7 after one quarter, the Lady Lions hit half of their six three-pointers in the opening 3:42 of the second stanza to build a 20-9 advantage. A bucket from Hope pushed the Lady Lions in front, 9-8, then Nylah Hall scored on a layup and drained a three-pointer to double Brownwood’s point total to that point, which made the score 14-8 at the 5:52 mark of the second quarter.
Following a Mineral Wells free throw, Roberts and Icess Hall knocked down consecutive treys to boost the advantage to 20-9.
Leading 24-11 at halftime, the Lady Lions witnessed Mineral Wells close the gap to 32-22 by the end of the third period. Then, with 4:16 left in the contest, Mineral Wells crept within single digits, 35-26, on a banked-in three-pointer by Jeter.
After a Brownwood timeout, the Lady Lions surrendered just one bucket the rest of the contest, and poured in 13 additional points for the final 20-point margin of victory.
Hooker’s putback after an offensive rebound put Brownwood back in front by double figures, 36-25, which was immediately followed by an Icess Hall trey and another bucket from Hope for a 41-25 cushion with 2:11 to go, essentially ending any Mineral Wells hopes for an upset.
“You can’t be mad about a 20-point win, but there’s things we didn’t do well tonight,” Hohertz said. “One thing we did do well was play with effort, but we have to put it all together. This is the time where it counts and we are thankful and grateful for this victory, but we have to get better.”
The Lady Lions are back in action at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday as they visit Glen Rose (16-11, 1-0), which picked up a 35-26 victory over Graham (8-14, 0-1) in its league opener Friday night. In the other 6-4A contest Friday, No. 5 Brock (19-5, 1-0) defeated Stephenville (15-8, 0-1) by a 52-18 count.
“Glen Rose is a different team than they have been the last three or four years, they’re a lot younger,” Hohertz said. “We have to travel to Glen Rose, which is a tough place to play, but we’re going to have to handle it like we have all year long, and go and put ourselves in position to do something successful.”
