Varsity girls halt losing streak

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

The losing skid reach two before Mountain Home ended it with a win over Kuna Friday night at home.

Nampa 50

Mtn. Home 44

Scoring lapses hurt the Mountain Home Lady Tigers last Tuesday night at Nampa as they fell to the Nampa Lady Bulldogs 50-44 in conference girls basketball.

Mountain Home started strong, and led, 16-6, after a quarter. Shelby Posey scored midway through the second quarter to make it 21-11, Mountain Home, but Nampa then went on a 14-0 run to end the first half and take a 25-21 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Nampa extended their lead to 39-32 after three quarters before a fourth-quarter rally brought the Lady Tigers back, Jasmyn Jewett's put back giving Mountain Home the lead, 41-39, with 4:51 left.

Marina Quintana's trey sparked an 8-0 run that put Nampa up 47-41 with 1:34 left. Nampa then held off the Lady Tigers for their third straight win, 50-44.

"Coming in, I think the girls maybe went in a little overconfident, but I thought we got out to a really good start, though, up 16-6, after one quarter," said Lady Tiger coach Brent Keener.

"And then things just snowballed.

"Dakota (Barrie) twisted her knee, and then Frannie (Francesca Hale) got in foul trouble and we couldn't break a press.

"We did a great job of fighting back -- going into that fourth quarter even, I think we were down seven or so -- and we were able to take a lead, and it's the same thing that we've had issues with, whether it's Middleton, Nampa, BK or Skyview, we can't find a way to finish those close games."

Shelby Posey led the Lady Tigers with 14 points and 14 rebounds. Francesca Hale added nine points, Rachel Warila seven, Blas Lord and Charde Huntington both added five, and Jasmyn Jewett and Dakota Barrie both scored two points.

Mtn. Home 53

Kuna 25

The Lady Tigers snapped their two-game losing skid with a 53-25 win over Kuna Friday night in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium in Mountain Home.

After Kuna scored the first point of the game the Lady Tigers went on a 9-0 run before Kuna scored again.

It was 13-7, Mountain Home, after a quarter, and the Lady Tigers built their lead up to 28-14 at the half.

Mountain Home continued to build on its lead in the third quarter, going up 41-19, and stretched their lead to 30 points in the fourth quarter, winning 53-25.

Coach Keener was pleased with the win, especially the defensive effort.

"I thought defensively, we definitely picked it up, and that's been our focus these last couple practices. We couldn't play much better defensively than we did -- there were a few lapses, but overall I thought we played pretty hard."

Francesca Hale led Mountain Home with 16 points, Shelby Posey added 13 and had 12 rebounds. Blas Lord netted seven points, Charde Huntington five, Jasmyn Jewett four, Dakota Barrie and Jessica Liercke both scored three and Rachel Warila two.

The win improved the Lady Tigers to 5-5 in conference play and 6-9 overall, with four conference games left.

Mountain Home is at Columbia Thursday night and hosts Skyview Saturday afternoon. Next week they travel to Bishop Kelly on Jan. 27 and host Emmett for Senior Night on Jan. 29.

"I'm anxious to go up against BK and Skyview because I definitely feel we can beat them -- there's no question in my mind -- if we can just figure out how to play all 32 minutes," said Coach Keener.

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