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You check out the score, and it appears to be a decent showing against Lampasas, but yet another loss, in what’s been a tough journey (6-18) for the Lady Jackets. I don’t think there’s much information here between the lines, but the lines themselves will say, Llano made a superb comeback and defined the phrase, “never give up.”

“We finally woke up!” screamed head coach Daryl Friedrich, competing with the excellent Black and Orange band between the girls’ and boys’ games, January 17. The Badgers barreled their way to a 42-24 lead before holding off Llano’s charge and settling for a 44-39 victory.

Paige Friedrich made a three early in the fourth, but the deficit was so high at the time, Thunder was necessary—the team, not the climate. After Jessica Wunderlich, Cierra Jordan did this:

“…Cierra drives the baseline, goes beyond the basket and lays in a reverse layup! What an acrobatic two!!”

A Megan Mason foul shot for Lampasas made it a 44-28 game with three minutes, 40 seconds to play. The Badgers’ offense was all done, but handicappers would still issue odds for the home team at 50-1.

“I told the girls at halftime,” Friedrich advised a radio audience, “that I’ve had enough of this feeling sorry for ourselves because of the Burnet loss.” That was 56-40 a week before. “I told ‘em, go out and play! I was tired of watching us be timid. If we’re ike that, we’ll get our butts handed to us wherever we go.”

A Sierra Kirchner hoop arrived with 3:20 left, and CJ, who scored a game-high 17 points, contributed two free throws to push the scoreboard message to 44-32 with 1:53 remaining. 50-1 had become 10-1.

“They just kept coming back,” said the Badgers’ Jenny Bowden, in this confrontation between two first-year head coaches. “When I called time, I told them Llano wasn’t down by that much. We have to play our style of basketball, beat the press, and stop making turnovers.”

Jordan, six-for-eight from the line in the final quarter, got one free throw, and with 51 seconds remaining….

“Friedrich shoots a three! It’s good, it’s good!! 44-36, Lampasas!”

There was a tie-up with a favorable possession arrow for the Jackets. CJ got one of two charity tosses. 44-37 was the tally, 29 seconds on the clock. Make it 5-1.

The Jacket defense continued its outstanding play, and Jordan offered her last free throws with 15 seconds to go. Llano had ended the game on a 15-2 run, but it was five points shy of beating the long odds.

“We should have started earlier,” conceded Friedrich. Indeed. This one was all Lampasas for 24 minutes. Juls Crook was the thief in the night with five three-point field goals. A trio of those catapulted her team to a 28-11 halftime advantage.

“We’re coming together as a team,” Bowden stated, as her squad got its first district victory after three losses. “We’re a family who take part in team activities, and when times get tough like this, we have to be there for each other.”

Friedrich said, “The clock ran out on us tonight,” which is a cliché, but on the money for this game. It certainly did not run out on the season, and the comeback—although it lacked enough broth in the soup—provides a memory that some time in the future, persevering until the finish line is reached will pay off.