Lady Tigers split final games of regular season

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers saw their win streak snapped at three by Bishop Kelly last week, but bounced back to end the regular season with an impressive win over Emmett.

The Lady Tigers take an 8-6 conference mark and 9-10 overall record, including eight wins in their last 12 games, into the District III 4A Girls Basketball Tournament, which starts tonight. They host Nampa at 7 p.m. tonight in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium.

They split with the Lady Bulldogs during the season, winning at home and losing at Nampa.

In last week's action leading up to district:

Bishop Kelly 49

Lady Tigers 45

A two-point third quarter proved costly for Mountain Home, as it dropped a 49-45 conference showdown at Bishop Kelly last Tuesday night.

Mountain Home jumped out to a 5-0 lead before Bishop Kelly battled back to lead 9-8, but two baskets by Dakota Barrie in the final minute of the quarter pushed the Lady Tigers to a 12-9 advantage.

Francesca Hale scored 11 of her game-high 25 points in the second quarter -- eight of them from the foul line -- as Mountain Home stretched its lead to 27-17 at the half.

The Lady Tigers managed just two points in the third quarter -- a basket by Hale with 5:30 left in the quarter -- while Bishop Kelly rallied for 16 to take a 33-29 lead into the final quarter.

Bishop Kelly extended its lead to 37-29 with 6:20 left in the game and it looked like the Lady Tigers were finished, but back came Mountain Home on a 9-0 run to take the lead, 38-37, with 4:10 left.

Cassie Brunelle scored to put the Lady Knights back ahead, 39-38, but Shelby Posey, who saw limited action due to foul trouble, hit a basket and free throw to put the Lady Tiger ahead 41-39 with 2:46 left.

Back came the Lady Knights, Chelsea Bokan scoring with 2:30 left to tie the game and hitting another basket some 30 seconds later to put Bishop Kelly up 43-41.

Hale hit two free throws to tie the game at 43-43, with 1:44 left, but Mariah Adcox scored with 1:21 left to put the Lady Knights ahead 45-43.

Julie Maguira hit two free throws with 19.4 seconds left to make it a four-point margin, 47-43.

Hale drove down and scored to cut the deficit back to two, 47-45, with 14 seconds left. Mountain Home quickly got the ball back but turned it over before they could get a shot off.

Chelsea Bokan then hit two free throws with 6.2 seconds left, as the Lady Knights won their 10th straight ballgame to clinch the conference championship and earn the number one seed going into the District III 4A Tournament.

"We had a very good first half," said Mountain Home Lady Tiger basketball coach Brent Keener after the game. "We came out and played intense and built a 10-point lead. I thought we missed some shots that we should have made in that first half, also to build on that lead, but it didn't happen.

"You knew in the third quarter BK was going to turn up the defense. We knew that was going to happen, and we seemed to go back to our old selves a little, before these last three games. We got passive, we didn't make good passes, and we weren't attacking the basket, so you take that third quarter away, and we win that ball game."

Coach Keener was proud of the way his girls came back after they got down by eight early in the fourth quarter.

"That was good to see, because you know in that third quarter, I thought they were ready to fold, because things weren't going well. It was nice to see us battle back and take the lead, but once again, we've got to figure out a way to win those ballgames, because we're going to have some close ones at district."

Francesca Hale led Mountain Home with 25 points, including 15 of 21 from the free-throw line. Shelby Posey added seven, Dakota Barrie six, Blas Lord three, and Jasmyn Jewett and Rachel Warila two each.

Mtn. Home 51

Emmett 21

Any concern about Mountain Home being down after their loss at Bishop Kelly was put to rest in the first half of Thursday night's game against Emmett, as the Lady Tigers went on a 14-0 run over a 10-minute time frame to shoot out to a 24-9 lead at halftime.

The Lady Tigers continued their strong play in the second half, leading 39-16 after three, and cruising on to a 51-21 win.

Coach Keener was happy to see his Lady Tigers bounce back form the Bishop Kelly loss with a great effort against Emmett.

"We definitely bounced back, and that was the kind of performance we needed tonight to get ready for district.

"I thought we did an awesome job of getting deflections with hands in the passing lanes, and if somebody didn't steal it right away, they deflected it so a teammate could steal it."

Francesca Hale led the effort against Emmett with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Shelby Posey added nine points and brought down 11 boards as the Lady Tigers dominated the boards 44-22. Dakota Barrie scored eight points, Jasmyn Jewett and Charde Huntington both added four, Blas Lord scored three, Jenifer Juarez and Annika Moody each scored two and Rachel Warila had one point.

Coach Keener hopes to use the momentum from the Emmett win for success in the district tourney.

"Yeah, it's very good momentum. We need to come out and be ready for Nampa and if we take care of business here, we'll get the BK rematch, I would assume Saturday, at BK."