In a showdown fitting of two Top 10 foes, the No. 8 Brownwood Lady Lions put their best foot forward, but at the end of the night the No. 3 Brock Lady Eagles squeaked out a 43-40 victory at Warren Gym Thursday to close up the first half of District 6-4A action for both squads.
The Lady Lions (24-4, 4-1), who led after the first quarter, second quarter and early in the fourth period, missed a pair of three-pointers in the final 19 seconds that, if successful, would have extended their win streak to 17 games and left them alone atop the league standings.
“My kids didn’t back down, and a lot of them hadn’t been in a situation like this or a game of this level,” said Lady Lions head coach Heather Hohertz. “We battled to the very end and a few bounces didn’t go our way there at the end, but I’m so proud of their effort. I told them they deserved this moment, they worked just as hard as anybody else, go seize the moment, and we were one shot away at the end from tying up the game.”
Brownwood almost emerged with the victory despite shooting just 25 percent (13 of 51) from the floor. The Lady Lions did sink 25 percent (7 of 28) of their three-point tries and 70 percent (7 of 10) of their free throws, while turning the ball over only six times with 30 rebounds, including 16 on the offensive end.
Nylah Hall paced the Lady Lions with 20 points, followed by eight points and 10 rebounds from Jade Morin, four points from Demayha Hooker, three points apiece from Jentry Coalson and Hannah Deen, and two points from Icess Hall.
Brock (22-5, 5-0) was sparked by Jacee Riddle’s 21 points on seven three-pointers, along with eight points from Kate Thomas inside, five from Savannah Hatcher, three from Taegan Sanders, and two points each from Jillian Gleaton, Daley Clark and Laney Hudson.
The turning point of the contest came in the third period as the Lady Lions led 26-24 at halftime, but went 7:08 without a point, allowing Brock to open a 33-26 advantage.
“That was a big thing we talked about at halftime, continue to come out swinging, but we couldn’t convert despite having opportunities and open shots right under the basket,” Hohertz said. “We just couldn’t get them to fall when we needed them to fall. We can’t come out in the third quarter and have a dry spell where we don’t score for seven minutes.”
Before the quarter ended, however, Nylah Hall and Coalson knocked down three-pointers on consecutive possessions, and the Lady Lions trailed just 33-32 heading to the fourth quarter.
There, the Lady Lions started the frame with one of their nine steals, and Morin scored following an offensive rebound 29 seconds into the final stanza as Brownwood regained a 34-33 advantage with 7:31 left in the contest.
Brock responded with an 8-1 spurt to regain a 41-35 edge with 3:10 left, until Nylah Hall buried another trey to close the gap to 41-38. Two free throws from Moran with 1:52 to go brought the Lady Lions within a point, 41-40, but Brownwood did not score again. Hudson was able to convert 2 of 4 free throws over the final 42 seconds to allow Brock the opportunity to escape.
“It was a fun game to be a part of, a fun game to coach,” Hohertz said. “Games like this make me a better coach and I’ll learn from this and our players will learn from this.”
The Lady Lions led by eight at one point, 20-12, as after carrying a 14-12 advantage into the second period, Deen and Nylah Hall knocked down back-to-back triples with 6:33 left before halftime. Brownwood took a two-point lead into the locker room at intermission.
Brownwood will look to get back on track at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Mineral Wells (14-14, 0-4) in a rematch of the Lady Lions’ 47-27 win in the district opener back on Jan. 9.
“I’m super proud of where we are right now and we have to build on the good things that we did for three-plus quarters tonight,” Hohertz said. “We have to move forward and start the second half of district by taking care of the games we need to take care of.”
