Burnet boys still top dog in district; girls fall to Brownwood
Burnet High School sophomore guard Katelyn Pool (left) blocks Brownwood guard Keeta Vaccaro's shot from behind as Lady Dawg senior post Victoria Solis is careful to give Vaccaro landing space. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
JENNIFER FIERRO • PICAYUNE STAFF
BURNET — Burnet High School boys head basketball coach Roy Kiser chuckled at the questions and had the same response for many of them. Fitting, considering the Bulldogs earned another District 8-3A victory, this one against Brownwood, 63-24 on Jan. 21.
Why are your players so unselfish? Why do they play great team defense? Why are so many involved on the offensive end?
“Again,” he said, “I think a lot of that goes to them being in the program for three or four years. They understand how to work hard. They understand what it takes to really play defense.”
And that’s how Burnet (14-10 overall, 4-0 District 8-3A) created a solid cushion in the first quarter. The Bulldogs’ defense led to several high-percentage shots that forced the Lions into two timeouts and a technical foul. By the end, Burnet led 20-5.
That trend continued in the second period with senior post Clayton Baumgart dropping in 10 of his game-high 16 points. Burnet led 34-12 at the half.
The lead allowed Kiser to substitute freely the final two quarters.
He credited his players for their mindset going against an opponent that hasn’t won a game all season.
“They were ready, they were focused to their credit,” he said. “It’s a senior-led team. The group we played most of the second half created a lot of turnovers. That was pleasing.”
jfierro@thepicayune.com
ON OFFENSE: points – Clayton Baumgart 16, Colton Stevens 13, Brian Bullock 8, Chase Mardis 7, Darius Johnson 5, Blayne Parisher 5, Walker Townes 3, Derek Kiser 3, Joe Parker 3
RECORDS: Burnet is 14-10 overall and 4-0 in District 8-3A; Brownwood is 0-19 overall and 0-4 in district.
UP NEXT: 8 p.m. Jan. 24, Burnet at Gatesville, 205 S. Lovers Lane in Gatesville
DISTRICT 8-3A STANDINGS:
Burnet, 4-0
Liberty Hill, 3-1 (def. Llano 78-74)
Llano, 2-2
Lampasas, 2-2 (def. Gatesville 50-42)
Gatesville, 1-3
Brownwood, 0-4
Brownwood girls 47, Burnet 31
BURNET — The Burnet High School girls basketball team lost 47-31 to Brownwood on Jan. 21.
The Lady Dawgs (15-10 overall, 3-3 District 8-3A) trailed thoughout the contest but trimmed the deficit to 30-25 with seven minutes and 26 seconds remaining in the contest.
The points came after junior forward Lauren Beckwith scored on an assist from junior point guard Riley Scott and was fouled.
But that was as close as the Lady Dawgs got. With 5:30 left in the contest, the Lady Lions (6-0 in district) went to a stall offense.
The revealing stat of the night was how Brownwood scored its 24 second-half points. All of them came from the foul line. The Lady Lions connected on 30-of-45 attempts during the 32-minute contest and made a total of eight field goals.
By contrast, the Lady Dawgs hit a total of seven field goals and connected on 15 of 20 foul shots.
Burnet trailed by as much as 14 points.
“We had a slow start, and they got off to a better start,” Burnet head coach Doug Messer said. “We played pretty even in the second quarter and played really well in the third.”
The Lady Dawgs outscored the Lady Lions 9-3 in the third period but trailed 30-23 going into the fourth.
“The perimeter was nonexistent for us,” Messer said. “I was pleased with our effort. We gave them what we could.”
Brownwood guard Keeta Vaccaro led with 23 points, including 13 of 17 from the free-throw line.
Burnet travels to Gatesville, 205 S. Lovers Lane, at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 24.
DISTRICT 8-3A STANDINGS:
Brownwood, 6-0
Liberty Hill, 5-1
Burnet, 3-3
Gatesville, 3-3
Lampasas, 1-5
Llano, 0-6