Lady Tigers bow out at district

The basketball season came to a close for the Mountain Home Lady Tigers last Wednesday night at Emmett with their 52-45 loss to Emmett.

In a game that had 12 lead changes and seven ties, the Mountain Home Lady Tigers fought hard to the end.

The Lady Tigers battled back from a 4-0 deficit early to take an 8-7 lead. It was 11-10, Emmett after a quarter.

The second quarter saw Mountain Home start the period on an 8-0 run to go up, 18-11, but the Lady Huskies fought back to tie it at 18-18. After additional ties at 19 and 21, Brandie Riggs and Alyssa Saltzgaber hit free throws to put the Lady Tigers up 23-21 at halftime.

The two earlier games with Emmett saw the Lady Tigers falter in the third quarter, allowing Emmett to run out to a big lead, but not this time. Baskets by Ashley Kipp and Emily Moranda stretched the lead to 27-21.

With Mountain Home up 29-25 the Lady Huskies went on a 7-0 run to go up 32-29 with 1:09 left in the period.

Back came the Lady Tigers, getting a basket and free throw from Francesca Hale to tie the score at 32-32, with 22 seconds left. Dani Dean scored in the closing seconds to push Mountain Home back ahead, 34-32, heading into the fourth quarter.

Emmett scored the first four points to open the fourth and take a 36-34 lead. The Lady Tigers tied it at 37 and went up 39-37 on a basket by Brandie Riggs with 5:05 left.

Emmett tied it at 39-39, but the Lady Tigers got another basket from Brandie Riggs and two free throws from Emily Moranda to go up 43-39 with 4:07 left.

An 8-0 run by Emmett pushed the Lady Huskies back in the lead, 47-43, with 2:28 left.

Dani Dean's basket with 1:52 left cut the deficit to two, 47-45, but Emmett, which hit 24 of 33 free throws in the ball game, cashed in on five of six the rest of the way for the 52-45 win.

"We went out and said, 'Let's play four hard quarters,' and by golly they went out and they did that, and they hustled all over the floor, and gave it all they had," said Lady Tiger coach Brian English.

"Yes, they fell a little bit short, but they have nothing to feel ashamed of, they played very, very hard."

Dani Dean and Sammy Dodge both ended their careers at Mountain Home with season and career high 10-point efforts.

Emily Moranda added seven points and brought down 10 rebounds.

Ashley Kipp and Brandie Riggs both scored six points, Jessie Eguisquiza, two, and Alyssa Saltzgaber, one.

Coach English loses Ashley Kipp, Dani Dean, Jessica Egusquiza, Sheena Nelsen, Alyssa Saltzgaber and Sammy Dodge to graduation.

He'll have four returning, plus a number of players coming up off the JV.

"We're going to have a bunch of seniors next year. We've gotlike 12 girls total coming up, between the four juniors we had leftand the eight that were down on the JV team, so we could have a lot of seniors next year. Pack a long lunch for Senior Night, it could be a while!"

The Lady Tigers finish the season 9-14 overall.