Thursday, April 25, 2024
It wasn’t until the third quarter of the area round playoff game against the Brookesmith Lady Mustangs in Stephenville Thursday that the Lipan Lady Indians finally showed why they’re the No. 3 team in Class 1A.
Lipan beat No. 19 Brookesmith 56-36, finishing the game on a 33-14 run. The Lady Indians’ lead was as small as 23-22 in the first minute of the third quarter. By the end of the third quarter, Lipan led 41-24.
Brookesmith started the game by playing stall-ball, draining the clock by aiming to keep possession rather than score.
That came as a surprise to Lipan. Head coach Amber Branson said she didn’t expect the Lady Mustangs to slow things down.
“We watched them the other night, we watched them on film, and they kind of like to run and gun a little bit,” she said. “I mean, credit to them, do what you’ve got to do to win.”
Stall-ball is designed to limit possessions for the other team, but the Lady Indians are built to create possessions for themselves by playing smothering defense. Several steals and forced turnovers led to a 9-1 lead for Lipan after the first quarter.
In the second, Brookesmith seemed to get every break. The Lady Mustangs banked in two three-pointers from the top of the key and went 7-9 from the free throw line.
Lipan led 23-19 at the half. Two three-pointers from Marti Seymour in the first two quarters were big for the Lady Indians.
Brookesmith cut Lipan’s led to one in the third quarter after being fouled on a three-point shot and sinking all three free throws. At that point, Branson said, she was more than a bit concerned.
“We played Baird last year in the first round, and it was a struggle,” she said. “They were banking stuff in just like they were banking stuff in tonight.
“It just felt like, ‘Oh no, not again.’”
(Lipan won that Baird game 42-36.)
But Maggie Peacock, Taylor Clark and Chelsea Lott scored six points each in the third quarter in an offensive explosion. Peacock’s two buckets were on jumpers in the lane, and she added two free throws at the end of the quarter. Lott buried two three-pointers from the right corner, and Clark had a three-pointer and an old-fashioned three-point play.
“Much relief,” Branson said of the breakthrough. “The third quarter, for our girls to come out and take care of business was...a deep breath.”
The fourth quarter was more of the same. Peacock added six more points to finish with a team-high 16 for the night.
Clark had 13 points, including three three-pointers. Lott finished with eight, Lynsey Little and Seymour both had six and Taylor Grove, Kaylee Little and Dally Coulter all had two.
The Little sisters and Lott were also active on the defensive end, harassing Brookesmith guards into traveling or dribbling out of bounds on multiple occasions.
Branson was pleased that the third-quarter run involved a balanced scoring effort.
“More so now than ever, we talk about, ‘It doesn’t matter who does it, as long as we get it done,” she said. “We’re all a team. It doesn’t matter who does it, as long as we do it.”
Lipan had to wait until Friday night to find out its next opponent. The Lady Indians will play the winner of Baird and Priddy in the regional quarterfinal round.
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