ABILENE – Trailing by as many as 10 points in the second half, the No. 8 Brownwood Lady Lions clawed their way back and took their only lead with 3:02 left in the contest on a bucket by Trinity Roberts. Again down three points with 53 seconds left on the clock, Brownwood pulled even with a pair of free throws from Hannah Deen with 14 seconds to go.
But Lubbock Estacado’s Azariah Reed banked in a runner high off the glass just before the final buzzer sounded, and the Lady Lions’ season came to an end, 48-46, in the Class 4A Division I Region I bi-district round at McMurry University’s Kimbrell Arena Monday night.
“Shout out to Estacado because they put four quarters together,” an emotional Lady Lions head coach Heather Hohertz said after the contest. “We played a good second half, but we dug ourselves too big of a hole in the first half. You can never question the effort, it’s just a tough one. We just couldn’t get it done, and it’s disappointing.”
Seeking their first postseason victory since 2017-18, the District 6-4A runner-up Lady Lions instead were handed their third bi-district defeat in four years by District 5-4A fourth seed Lubbock Estacado (15-18).
The Lady Lions converted 31 percent (17 of 54) of their field goals, but only four three-pointers, while pulling down 26 rebounds, committing 13 turnovers and recording only four steals, the catalyst for Brownwood’s transition offense.
Estacado drained 42 percent (15 of 36) of its shots, including seven from beyond the three-point act, and coughed the ball up only eight times, which helped the Lady Matadors overcome a total of just 13 rebounds.
Danati Perez poured in 13 points, sinking four three-pointers, to spark Estacado, trailed by Kalani Jackson with 12 points, Reed with nine, and Jada Phea with five points.
Brownwood was sparked by Trinity Roberts’ 17 points, with a dozen coming in the fourth quarter, along with seven from Icess Hall, five from Hannah Deen, four from Demayha Hooker, three from Jentry Coalson, and two points each from Jade Morin and Nylah Hall.
Down 31-21 with 2:39 left in the third period, the Lady Lions answered with their longest run of the game, a string of seven straight points that closed the gap to 31-28 at the 1:18 mark of the quarter. The surge consisted of a three-point play by Icess Hall, then a bucket and later two free throws from Hooker.
Facing a 35-28 deficit heading to the fourth quarter, a three-pointer by Roberts at the 3:31 juncture, then a bucket in the paint from Roberts with 3:02 to go capped a 7-0 run and gave Brownwood its only lead, 40-39.
Estacado answered with a bucket from Reed and free throws from Johnson to regain a 43-40 edge with 2:10 on the clock.
Buckets by Roberts, with 1:52 left, and Deen, with 33 seconds to go, allowed the Lady Lions to remain with a point, 45-44.
After Estacado made just one of two free throws with 25 seconds left, Deen was fouled driving to the bucket and sank both of her free throw attempts – where Brownwood was successful on 8 of 12 tries – to knot the score with 14 seconds to go.
Estacado then inbounded the ball and traveled the length of the court, with Reed getting free behind the defense to bank in the decisive shot just before time expired.
The Lady Lions trailed 9-7 after one quarter and drew even at 12 when Icess Hall scored on an offensive rebound with 6:05 left in the first half. But Estacado answered with the next eight points to open a 20-12 advantage – thanks to a pair of three-pointers by Perez and an off-balance bucket by Victoria Cooper for her only points – at the 2:27 mark of the second period, and Brownwood was in scramble mode of the rest of the contest, facing a 23-17 halftime deficit.
Monday’s contest concluded the Lady Lion basketball careers of Deen, Morin, Icess Hall, and Lanie Johnson, as the 28 wins amassed by the 2025-26 Brownwood girls squad is the second most in a single season in program history.
“There’s a not a lot of words you can say about what they’ve meant to this program, and what they’ve meant to me,” Hohertz said. “I’ve talked about that over the course of the season. Senior classes, the tough part about being a coach is you get to be around them for so long and then they go and graduate. I’m proud of where they put us and the people we are.”
