STEPHENVILLE – The Brownwood Lady Lions matched their most victories in a single season and reached the third round of the playoffs for the first time since 2018 with a 2-1 victory over Benbrook Tuesday night in the Class 4A Division II Region I area round of the playoffs.

“This is a feeling we’ve never felt before because we’ve never reached this round of the playoffs since I’ve been here as a coach,” said Lady Lions head coach Alexis Walker. “It’s’ a great day to be a Lady Lion and so I’m happy for this group and so proud of who they are. This is the best feeling in the world.”

The Lady Lions (18-3-1) matched the 2025 squad with 18 victories, and have guaranteed their best overall winning percentage for a single season as last year’s team dropped five games with one tie.

In Tuesday’s victory over Benbrook (21-4-1), the Lady Lions jumped out to a 1-0 lead at halftime, the opposite of their bi-district performance where they trailed Venus 2-0 at intermission before rallying for a 3-2 victory.

“We were able to set the tone early in the game, where in the first round it took us a little bit to get going,” Walker said. “It worked on in our favor because having to go through that adversity last week woke the girls up for this round.”

Kynlee Jefferson opened the scoring with 18 minutes left before halftime off an assist from Alayna Hernandez while Hannah Deen, who went the distance in goal, pitched a first-half shutout.

“Hannah had multiple saves for us and came up big for us in key moments,” Walker said. “Our defense, led by Icess Hall, she got her work in today running with their best player, but she was able to hold her own and kept us in the game.”

Benbrook was able to knot the score at 1 with 26:17 remaining in the contest, but at the 18:57 juncture Kynlie Lewis scored the game-winning goal, rebounding a shot from Nylah Hall the ricocheted off the Benbook goal keeper.

“They were able to find a goal, then Nylah shot and the goalie blocked it, but three girls were behind Nylah so I knew we were going to get it in the net, and what a testament for Kynlie Lewis to be able to capitalize on that and secure us the win,” Walker said. “She’s a senior and I love to see her get that last goal for us. Three seniors, Kynlie, Icess and Hannah, they all stepped up for us when we needed them.”

The Lady Lions will next face Midland Greenwood (17-2-6) – also a 2-1 winner over Borger Tuesday night – in the Class 4A Division II Region I semifinals at 5 p.m. Friday at Abilene Wylie’s Hugh Sandifer Stadium.