Mired in their worst offensive outing of the season, a go-ahead three-pointer from Jentry Coalson with 50 seconds left and a steal by Nylah Hall at the other end that resulted in two insurance free throws allowed the No. 8 Brownwood Lady Lions to again fight off the Glen Rose Lady Tigers, 27-23, Friday night at Warren Gym in District 6-4A girls basketball action.
“It was rough, but right now with the situation this week of having back-to-back games, first on the road and then to come back home and play against a Glen Rose team who got to prepare for us yesterday because their make up game is being played tomorrow, it was a gritty game and we were fortunate enough to find a way to win,” said Lady Lions head coach Heather Hohertz.
With the victory, the Lady Lions (26-4, 6-1) now lead Stephenville (18-11, 3-4) by three games with three games left in the race for the No. 1 and No. 2 playoff seeds in the Class 4A Division I playoffs out of District 6.
The Lady Lions converted just 18 percent (9 of 48) of their field goal attempts – 14 percent (4 of 27) on two-pointers and 23 percent (5 on 21) on three-pointers – but the Brownwood defense held Glen Rose (18-14, 3-3) without a point for a stretch of 16 minutes and 23 seconds.
Still, Glen Rose managed to erase a 10-point deficit – 20-10 with 32 seconds left in the third period – and grabbed a 23-22 advantage on Karysn Ibarra’s three-pointer with 2:19 left in regulation.
But with just under a minute left, Coalson – who for the second game in a row led Brownwood in scoring with nine points – drained her third trey of the night, a 26-foot attempt, to dash Glen Rose’s bid for an upset.
“When it left her hand I knew it was going in, I could just tell,” Hohertz said of Coalson’s game-winner. “The release and how she followed through, I knew it was going in. What a shot by her, and way to step up. She didn’t even play basketball last year and tonight she hit a big shot that allows us to still control our own destiny.”
With Brownwood up 25-23, Glen Rose’s ensuing possession ended abruptly as Nylah Hall stepped between an intended pass from Addison Treppa to Cailey Harwell near midcourt and recorded a steal with 32 seconds remaining. After Brownwood called time out, and Glen Rose fouled enough times to put the Lady Lions in the bonus, Hall sank two free throws with 20 seconds left to create a two-possession advantage and the final four-point margin.
“She has such long arms, and when she picked it she was trying to make the decision whether to go hard or to reverse and come back to half court and run some time off,” Hohertz said of Hall. “Her foot slipped a little bit and so that’s when I started yelling timeout so we could hold on to the momentum and get an inbounds play. Then she stepped up to the line and made two free throws after that when we had struggled at free throw line most of the night.”
After missing their first five free throw tries of the night, the Lady Lions converted their final four of the contest. Similarly, in Brownwood’s 35-27 victory at Glen Rose on Jan. 13, the Lady Lions were in front just 29-27 but sank six consecutive shots from the free throw line in the final minute to close out the victory.
“We just found a way,” Hohertz said. “When you play a team you don’t really match up well against, they sit back in the zone, they’re disciplined on offense so that doesn’t allow us to get out in transition and run, it’s a really hard match up for us. But our gritty team found a way, and I’m really proud of them.”
Along with Coalson’s nine points, Nylah Hall finished with eight, Icess Hall added four, and Trinity Roberts, Jade Morin and Hannah Deen contributed two points apiece.
Glen Rose received eight points each from Harwell and Treppa, four from Lexee Simpson, and three points from Ibarra.
Trailing 8-5 with 2:14 left in the first period after a bucket by Harwell, Nylah Hall’s three-pointer allowed the Lady Lions to pull even at 8 at the end of the opening period. Glen Rose didn’t muster a point in the second period as Brownwood opened a 15-8 halftime advantage. With Lady Lions in front 18-8 with 1:51 to go in the third, Glen Rose finally ended its more than two-quarter scoring drought, then went on a 15-4 run to seize the lead.
The Lady Lions are next in action at Stephenville at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday, then host Graham in the home finale at 5:45 p.m. Friday.
“We had another tremendous crowd, the girls have been working hard for this and they really appreciate the support the community’s been giving us,” Hohertz said. “We have one more chance at home next Friday, but if you have a chance Tuesday go over to Stephenville and support us there.”
