Lady Tigers fall to top 5A schools

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers faced two of the top 5A teams in the state over the weekend, and came up on the short end of both games.

Eagle 58

Mountain Home 33

The Lady Tigers matched baskets with Eagle in the first quarter Friday night at Eagle, and trailed just 13-11 after a quarter. Mountain Home trailed by nine at halftime, 28-19.

Eagle outscored the Lady Tigers, 19-8, in the third period to stretch lead to 47-27, heading into the fourth quarter, and took the win, 58-33.

Despite the loss, Mountain Home first-year head coach Brian English thought his girls played well.

"I was really pleased with the way we played. We came out and played well, and it was 13-11 at the end of the first quarter.

"Eagle's press didn't bother us or anything. We were down nine at the half, but we came out and scored at the start of the third quarter and I thought we were going to get going. Then we fell into a little lull and they pulled away.

"They had great size and quickness and that kind of wore us down and they beat us by 25, but I thought we played fairly well.

"Facing the fourth-ranked 5A team in the state, I thought we played fairly well."

Erica Stanton led the Lady Tigers in scoring with 14 points, Marquina Gilliam scored nine. Jessica Egusquiza added three points, Teysena Chatman, Kaleena Bluemer and Sammy Dodge each scored two points, and Ashley Kipp added one point.

Centennial 68

Mountain Home 28

Mountain Home was playing without Erica Stanton Saturday night. The 5' 7" senior guard scored 14 points the night before at Eagle before injuring an ankle in the fourth quarter, and her absence was duly noted, as Centennial shot out to a 13-0 lead in the first two and a half minutes of the game, turning turnovers into points, and built up a 27-5 lead after a quarter to put the game out of reach.

It was 37-10 at the half, and 51-22 after three.

The Lady Patriots' biggest lead of the night was the final score, 68-28.

"I thought we played fairly well after the first quarter, said Coach English after the game. "The first quarter they came out on fire and we were a little bit sluggish tonight. I always worry about back-to-back games. I always wonder if we can do that or not, and when you play two tough 5A teams back-to-back, it's just hard.

"I thought the girls kept their composure and didn't quit, they kept playing hard. We've got to learn how to play man-to-man defense. We've got to learn how to do things and we're going to suffer through some games like this, but as long as we get better, I don't care.

"Another thing, and I can't emphasis it enough, is that losing Erica Stanton hurt us big time. She's a 14-points a game scorer for us, and now she's out maybe next week, maybe all the way to the Nampa game on Dec. 1, so losing her hurt. That's the third guard out there to handle the ball and maybe help against the press."

Marquina Gilliam led the Lady Tigers in scoring with 13 points.

Jessica Egusquiza added seven points, Kaleena Bluemer scored four, Teysena Chatman and Ali Hillman both netted two points.

Mountain Home shot just 22 percent (10/46) from the field, while Centennial hit 47 percent (27/58).

Mountain Home committed 33 turnovers, while Centennial had 18.

Mountain Home hosted Mountain View last (Tuesday) night, and travels to Capital on Saturday night.

English thinks his Lady Tigers will stack up better against those teams.

"Mountain View lost to Minico, whom we played real well in the Jamboree the other day, so, you know, that's a possibility there. Capital, on the JV squad last year, we beat Capital's JV squad and the varsity only lost by 10 to them last year, so I think they're games that we're going to be a little bit more competitive, so I'm looking forward to that."

The Lady Tigers open SIC 4A conference play on Dec. 1 at home against Nampa.