BEAST & BUZZSAW: The story behind Lipan’s dynamic backcourt duo

Lynsey Little and Taylor Branson pretty much live up to their nicknames, beast and buzzsaw, every time they step on a basketball court.

“She’s kind of nasty,” Lynsey’s papaw, Jim Helvey, said rather proudly.

“That's what you hear me holler at her, calling her beast on the floor,” Helvey said.

And Taylor?

“When you see her buzzing around the court, cutting off opponents, you’d understand,” said one of Lipan’s staunchest fans.

For those who have watched the Lipan Lady Indians’ backcourt duo play, the monikers fit.

Lynsey and Taylor are the dynamos powering this Lipan team deeper into this year’s girls basketball playoffs.

The girls played against each other in the sixth grade, in a Little Dribblers league.

“It was back and forth,” Taylor said, “but we usually won.”

Lynsey confirms: “My team always got killed.”

“She would get a little bit frustrated,” Taylor said. “We're always really competitive guarding each other.”

Lynsey recalls: “I always hated playing Lipan: 'Like, oh, not Lipan again.'”

She lived in Jacksboro then, and “we weren't really a basketball school,” she conceded.

Joining forces was a relief.

“I was very excited, because I've always wanted to be on a good basketball team,” Lynsey said.

LIKE SISTERS

These two girls are best friends, basically like sisters. 

“We talk all the time,” Taylor said. “We hang out all the time.”

Even if it is only a run to the convenience store, she said, “we'll all ride together.” 

They are practically inseparable.

Doing just about everything together.

“We'll have sleepovers, watch some movies,” Taylor said. “Usually, it's scary movies when we're all together.”

Or they will take a drive to Weatherford to eat and shop.

“Sometimes, we just like to drive around because there's not much to do in Lipan,” Taylor said.

On the hardwood floor, the girls have an innate ability to know what the other is about to do.

“I guess since we've just played together so long, we just get used to the way each other plays and what the other is looking for,” Taylor said. “So, I know she's usually trying to attack, and I know when to get it to her. On defense, we just feed off each other's energy.”

After Lynsey’s older sister, Kaylee, graduated last year, Taylor has comfortably “kind of filled her spot.”

These two have been such good friends for years, on and off the basketball court, that their on-court personas have melded perfectly. 

“We’re all super close … just because we've all pretty much grown up together,” Taylor said.

Both are chameleons when they shed their civilian clothes to jump into their game jerseys. The transformation is remarkable. From little girls to queens of the court.

“I think when I put on the uniform, I just get in the right mindset and I'm ready to play,” Taylor said. “Sometimes, I think I feel a little bigger than I am.”

THEIR TEAM NOW

Lipan opened the season in Glen Rose with a game against Martin’s Mill — the team the girls beat last March in San Antonio to claim the Texas Class 2A girls basketball title.

Stepping on the court without their star seniors from last year, the baton had been passed.

This was their team now.

Since this is Lipan, the pressure was on.

“Everybody (in Lipan) wants to win a state championship,” Taylor said. “But I don't think about that too much. I just try to do what I can do and not really worry about the outcome.”

That was hard to believe watching Taylor and Lynsey pressing the opposing backcourt. 

“We knew it was going to be a close game,” Taylor said. “And we knew it was going to be tough because they wanted to beat us.”

Lipan won the rematch, 60-51.

Every time they battle together, they get better.

NO FEAR

Lynsey has always been an emotional girl.

For being a beast on the court, Lynsey is rather sensitive.

At home, Lynsey’s soft spot are her three cats: Fatty the orange tabby, Zoey the gray calico and Mo the Siamese.

“I don’t know. If you looked at her the wrong way, you would hurt her feelings,” said Misty Little, Lipan assistant basketball coach and mom. “And you could just make her cry with like, one look, isn't that funny?”

Just don’t make her mad on the court.

When Lynsey steps on the hardwood floor, it almost seems like she is looking for a fight. 

“I'm always just trying to get the ball as hard as I can. I guess I'm aggressive,” Lynsey said.

As Lipan marches deeper into the playoffs, the girls’ intensity certainly helps the team.

“We all try to have confidence but not too much, because we don't want our heads to get too big,” Taylor said.

Fear is not a factor with these girls.

Nerves? You bet.

“I get very nervous before games,” Lynsey said.

That is where “DJ Chelsea” comes in, said Taylor with a laugh.

Lipan’s wiry forward Chelsea Lott sets up speakers in the locker room and blasts rap music, often with the girls dancing around, washing away the nerves with every beat. 

“Then we're ready to go,” Taylor said.

The swagger with which Lipan plays is undeniable. But, Taylor said, they try “not to get ahead of ourselves.”

The competition is only bound to get stiffer. Taller. Faster. Better.

“So we just need to focus on not getting too worked up, just taking one game at a time like usual,” Taylor said — recited like the coach’s daughter that she is. 

Several girls on Lipan’s basketball team are children of coaches. Taylor’s mother, Amber, is the head coach and Lynsey’s mother, Misty, is one of the assistant coaches.

Both girls pretty much know what they are supposed to do.

Taylor walks on the court with the confidence to call plays. She pretty much has carte blanche to slow things down or speed up the game.

“I think it's just because I've listened to (my mom) all my life,” Taylor said. “It doesn't have to be said, but sometimes (my mom) has to let me know if I'm speeding up when she wants to slow down.”

Lynsey’s mom walks on eggshells around her daughter.

“It is an awkward relationship to have to coach your kid,” Misty said. “It can be very tough, especially with an emotional player like Lynsey.”

She said she often leaves the talking to the head coach.

“(Amber and) I kind of do help each other out a lot,” Misty said. “Because sometimes coming from mom, it's a little tougher for (Lynsey) to take, you know, because I'm trying to boss her around in the heat of the game.”

Of course, at the Branson dinner table, basketball is not a subject that normally comes up.

“(My mom) told me a long time ago that she'll keep the coaching stuff at the games and the mom stuff at home,” Taylor said. 

Like Taylor, Lynsey has to manage her relationship with her mom, who also happens to be her coach.

“We kind of argue sometimes, but because I'm like a person who does not like to be told what to do,” Lynsey said. “So, she just doesn't really say much to me because she knows that, in the heat of the moment, I get mad. But she's always giving me high fives and encouraging me.”

Lynsey has always blazed her own trail.

As a young girl, she begged to play on her older sister’s teams. But she was too young. She had to wait.

That never sat well with the young Lynsey.

Mom eventually gave in.

“We let her kind of get started (playing on her sister’s team),” Misty said. “She got her feet wet pretty early.” 

It was a good education for little Lynsey. 

“She had those older kids to look up to,” mom said.