Lady Tiger sophomores open district play as top seed

The Mountain Home Lady Tiger sophomores closed out their regular season with two wins last week, handing Middleton's sophomores their first conference loss of the season.

They also opened district tournament play with a win over Kuna on Saturday.

Mtn. Home 43

Emmett 24

Mountain Home led from start to finish last Tuesday night when they downed the Emmett sophomores, 43-24, in conference girls basketball at Emmett.

Defensively, the Lady Tigers held Emmett to single digit scoring in all four quarters, and led 14-7 after a quarter, and 24-12 at the half.

Mountain Home outscored them, 19-12 in the second half to secure win number 16 of the season.

Rachel Warila and Alex Schmidt both scored in double figures for Mountain Home at Emmett, Warila scored 17, and Schmidt narrowly missed a double-double, scoring 11 points while pulling down nine rebounds. Amanda Osborn and Jennica Quintal both added five points, Fatima Guillen scored three, and Arlene Futch, two.

Mtn. Home 36

Middleton 33

Mountain Home had been looking for this game since Jan. 4, when Middleton had ended the Lady Tigers' undefeated season in a big way, 52-28 at Middleton. Middleton, which was unbeaten at the time, was still unbeaten going into Thursday night's matchup in Mountain Home. Mountain Home had not lost since Middleton, and the number one seed going into the district sophomore tourney was on the line.

Things looked bleak for Mountain Home in the third quarter, but they battled back from a nine-point deficit to win 36-33.

Mountain Home started out a lot better than they did at Middleton, taking an 8-0 lead. Middleton finally scored with 1:17 left in the quarter, and the Lady Tigers led 8-3 after one.

After trailing in the first quarter, 8-0, Middleton came back on a 14-0 run to lead 14-8 before Mountain Home finally scored in the second period, when Fatima Guillen hit two free throws with 1:18 left in the half. The Lady Tigers trailed, 16-10 at the half.

Mountain Home battled back within two on a couple occasions in the third quarter, the last at 22-20, with 3:06 left. Middleton then went on a 7-0 run to take their biggest lead of the night, 29-20, with 1:29 left in the period. Fatima Guillen scored in the closing seconds to make it 29-22, Middleton, heading into the final quarter.

Mountain Home gradually narrowed the gap in the fourth quarter, and Alex Schmidt's basket with 2:30 left gave the Lady Tigers a 32-31 lead. Less than 20 seconds later, Schmidt scored again to push the lead to 34-31.

After Middleton narrowed the lead back to one with 1:22 left, Alex Schmidt scored again to make it 36-33, with 1:12 left.

Middleton had the ball with numerous chances to score, and missed several three-point attempts to tie the game, as Mountain Home prevailed 36-33.

Alex Schmidt led the Lady Tigers with 14 points, eight in the final quarter, and brought down 10 rebounds for a double-double. Amanda Osborn and Rachel Warila both added eight points, and Fatima Guillen netted six.

The Lady Tigers ended the regular season 17-1 overall, and 13-1 in conference, tying Middleton for the conference crown. For seeding purposes for the District Sophomore Tournament, Mountain Home won the coin toss and earned the number one seed in the district tourney.

Mtn. Home 40

Kuna 25

The Lady Tigers opened district play Saturday with a 40-25 win over Kuna.

Mountain Home shot out to a 12-6 lead after a quarter, and led 28-14 at the half. It was 33-17 Mountain Home after three.

Amanda Osborn and Rachel Warila led the Lady Tigers with 10 points apiece. Warila also brought down six rebounds to lead the team.

Arlene Futch added eight points, Alex Schmidt had four, Cheyenne Castillo and Lindsay Sessions both scored three, and Jennica Quintal added two.

With the win, the Lady Tigers faced Columbia in the semi-finals on Monday. The championship game was scheduled for Tuesday night at Nampa.