AUSTIN, Texas — Amber Branson is one committed basketball coach.
Shortly after coaching Lipan High to a regional semifinal victory Feb. 25 in the Texas state tournament, Branson gave birth to daughter Leslie. And 15 hours later, she was back on the bench guiding the team to another win.
“I was pretty tired,” Branson said Friday, a few hours before Lipan was routed by defending champion Neches 65-26 in the semifinals of Class 1A Division II, the division for the state’s smallest schools. “I never felt like I couldn’t do it.”
She went to the hospital in Abilene shortly after 9 p.m. and gave birth about an hour later. Leslie came so fast she didn’t give her mom time to get an epidural for pain. “If I had the epidural, I might not have been able to make it” to the game, she said.
Instead, by 2 p.m. the next day Branson was back on the bench, urging her team on as they rallied from 15 points down to win.
Coincidentally, the team motto this season: “If it’s easy, I don’t want it.”
