Riggs leads Lady Tigers to overtime win

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers came away with a split of last week's SIC 4A conference girls basketball games, losing at Nampa, but battling back to win in overtime at home against Kuna.

Lady Tigers 36

Nampa 44

Mountain Home Lady Tigers girls basketball coach Brian English was worried prior to his girls game at Nampa last Thursday night.

His Lady Tigers had not played a ball game since Dec. 19 when they took the floor on Jan. 4 at Nampa -- 16 days between games, and it showed, as they lost to the Lady Bulldogs, 44-36.

Mountain Home struggled offensively all night, and trailed, 8-6, after a quarter. They fell behind, 13-6, early in the second period, but battled back to take a 16-14 lead. They led 20-18 at the half.

The Lady Tigers took their biggest lead of the game early in the third quarter, shooting to a 24-19 lead with 6:46 left in the period, but Nampa battled back, and led, 28-27, heading into the fourth quarter.

Nampa went on a 7-0 run midway through the period, to build up a 37-29 lead. The Lady Tigers could not get their shots to drop, and Nampa connected on 12 of 18 free throws in the final quarter to win it 44-36.

"I was concerned about the long layoff, and it showed, "said Lady Tiger coach Brian English after the game. "We seemed flat, and that's my fault for not getting them ready to play tonight. I didn't think we rebounded the ball very well, and they out-hustled us, and they deserved to win and we got the loss for it."

Jessica Egusquiza led the Lady Tigers with 10 points, Emily Moranda added nine. Brandie Riggs scored six, Dani Dean, four, Hannah Zamora and Alyssa Saltzgaber each had three points, and Sheena Nelsen, one.

Mountain Home shot a chilly 24 percent (10/41) from the field. They shot 58 percent (14/24) from the foul line.

Nampa shot 33 percent (11/33) from the floor, including all four of their three-point shots, and cashed in on 18 of 29 (62 percent) free throws.

Nampa won the battle of the boards, 28-21. Dani Dean and Emily Moranda both had five rebounds to lead the Lady Tigers.

Lady Tigers 37

Kuna 34, (OT)

The Lady Tigers battled back in the second half to force overtime with Kuna, and won, 37-34, Saturday afternoon in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium.

Mountain Home's woes from their Thursday night game at Nampa continued into Saturday's game, with the Lady Tigers down, 10-4, after a quarter.

After going down by ten, 16-6, the Lady Tigers battled back to within two, 16-14, but a half-court shot at the buzzer by Kuna's Bobbie Peterson put the Lady Kavemen up 19-14 at the half.

Neither team could muster any offense in the third quarter, with the score 23-18, Kuna, heading into the fourth quarter.

The Lady Tigers showed some spark in the fourth, and battled back to within one, 28-27, on two free throws by Ashley Kipp with 30.9 seconds left.

Paula Peterson sank two free throws with 19 seconds left to push the lead back to three, 30-27.

Jessica Egusquiza was fouled shooting a three-pointer with 12.3 seconds left. She made all three free throws to tie the game at 30-30, and the game went into overtime.

In the four-minute overtime period, Brandie Riggs sank two free throws with 3:36 left to give Mountain Home their first lead of the game, 32-30.

Amanda Dunson's basket tied the game at 32-32, with 2:39 left in overtime. Dunson hit one of two free throws with 2:17 left to give Kuna the lead back, 33-32.

Both teams missed opportunities at the free throw line, and the score stayed 33-32, Kuna, until Paula Peterson hit one of two free throws to push the Kuna lead to 34-32, with 47.8 seconds left.

Brandie Riggs drained a trey with 30 seconds left to put Mountain Home ahead, 35-34. After Kuna failed to score, Riggs was fouled and sank two free throws with 11.4 seconds left to put the Lady Tigers up, 37-34.

Kuna failed to score as the clock ran out, Mountain Home claiming a 37-34 victory.

Coach English was pleased with the comeback effort for the win.

"We talked at halftime that the first half we didn't play like a team, we played like a bunch of individuals, and if we came back out and played like a team, we had a chance, and they did. They came out and played a great fourth quarter, and really picked it up in overtime, and it was a real contribution by everybody that allowed us to win the ballgame."

Brandie Riggs led the Lady Tigers with nine points, including all seven points in overtime. Chantell Crane added eight points, Dani Dean and Jessica Egusquiza both scored six, Ashley Kipp, four, and Hannah Zamora, two.

The win improved the Lady Tigers to 6-8 on the season, and 3-5 in conference play. The Lady Tigers were at Columbia last (Tuesday) night, and host Skyview on Friday night.

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