BROWNFIELD MAY BE IN THE MIDST OF AN HISTORICAL RUN...
When the season started in 3A basketball, there were two teams a lot of people, including myself, talked about a lot: The Shallowater Fillies and the Idalou Lady Cats as both teams returned the majority of their core players and battled it out in the Regional Final with the Fillies winning by three en route to their first title since 2004.
But, there is a team 30 minutes down the road that a lot of folks didn’t talk about when the season started; the Brownfield Lady Cubs. We should’ve saw this coming with their non-district schedule as they beat Randall, Tascosa, Monterey, Coronado, Lubbock Christian and their only loss this year was to Amarillo; a 5A powerhouse!
This was very smart scheduling by Coach Wyatt as she knew her district wasn’t that strong this year and for the goals they wanted to accomplish, the Lady Cubs had to get some tough games under their belt! After winning district and blasting Presidio, 82-19 in the Bi-District round of the playoffs, the tough early games payed off as they beat #6 Idalou 53-51 when Gabi Fields hit three clutch free throws with one second left in the game. In their Regional Quarterfinal game, the Lady Cubs also won a close game that was back-and-forth with Childress’ Lady Bobcats, 57-55.
In their Regional Semifinal game against Peaster, key plays from Gabi Fields and Dabria Blackwell propelled the Lady Cubs to a 67-58 win to set up a colossal matchup against #1 Shallowater. The Fillies came into the 3A Regional Final with a 32-game winning streak with their last loss coming from Brownfield on February 4th, 2020 by a 47-45 score. This game was, to me, a passing of the torch. Brownfield wanted to show everyone that they belonged on the top-tier of basketball teams in the state and they did just that with a gritty win over the Fillies, 50-45. The Lady Cubs played lockdown defense and made clutch shots all night and held up tough at the end when Shallowater rallied back to almost tie at the end.
Is this where Brownfield starts their historic run? I think so. Ponder is next on Saturday at the Junell center in San Angelo, Texas on the campus of Angelo State and after that, a trip to the Alamodome for a shot at their first state title since Sheryl Swoopes played for the Lady Cubs in 1988. Make sure to pay attention to what you are watching; a run of historic proportions happening now by the Brownfield Lady Cubs. Here is the scary thought.. Their ENTIRE roster is back next year!