Lady Tigers keep state tournament hopes alive

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers stumbled out of the chutes in their District III 4A Tournament opener against Nampa, but bounced back with a win over Columbia to keep their state tourney hopes alive.

Nampa 43

Mtn. Home 34

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers finished their regular season girls basketball schedule playing some of their best ball of the season, so Coach Brent Keener was hoping to ride that momentum into the District III 4A Girls Basketball Tournament.

Unfortunately, the Lady Tigers showed no fire until the fourth quarter, and did manage to battle back to take the lead, but then ran out of gas, losing to Nampa 43-34 last Wednesday night in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium.

The two teams split during the regular season, Mountain Home winning at home, 45-32, and Nampa winning 50-44 at Nampa.

The Lady Tigers struggled offensively most of the night, and managed just a free throw by Francesca Hale and a basket by Dakota Barrie in the first eight minutes as they trailed Nampa 9-3 after a quarter.

Mountain Home got a trey by Dakota Barrie and three free throws from Hale to tie the game at 9-9, with 5:55 left in the first half, but were outscored 16-8 the rest of the quarter, and found themselves down 25-17 at the half.

Mountain Home held Nampa to just six points in the third -- treys by Marina Quintana and Amanda Farias -- but only scored two points themselves, as they fell behind, 31-19, heading into the fourth quarter.

The Lady Tigers finally came alive in the fourth quarter and reeled off 14 straight points, with Blas Lord's trey giving Mountain Home its first lead since the first quarter, as they led 33-31 with 2:10 left.

It looked like victory would be theirs. But Nampa had other ideas.

The Lady Bulldogs had won seven of their last nine games going into the district tourney opener and they were not ready to concede defeat.

Amy Keonig broke the 14-0 run by Mountain Home with a basket near the two-minute mark that tied the game. Mary Celentano hit two free throws with 1:43 left that put Nampa up 35-33 and added a basket moments later that pushed the lead to four.

Mountain Home would score just one free throw the rest of the way and Nampa would cash in from the free throw line -- they were 8/8 in the fourth quarter and 12/12 for the game -- as they held off the Lady Tigers 43-34.

"We were playing really well going into district and I thought we'd be okay going in that first game," said Lady Tiger basketball coach Brent Keener.

"I knew we'd be a little nervous, but I thought we'd get over those nerves, but we just didn't. We had a first quarter and a third quarter that were just atrocious."

Francesca Hale led the Lady Tigers in scoring with 14 points, Dakota Barrie added seven, Shelby Posey had five, and Blas Lord and Charde Huntington had four each.

Mtn. Home 69

Columbia 27

One thing was certain Saturday night in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium -- The Mountain Home High School Lady Tigers were not about to let their season end that night, as they eliminated the Lady Wildcats from Columbia 69-27 in a loser-out game.

The Lady Tigers definitely came ready to play Saturday night against Columbia, shooting out to a 7-0 lead before Columbia ever got the ball down on their end of the court.

After a 9-4 first quarter, Mountain Home torched the nets for 21 points in the second and third quarters to put the game out of reach, as Mountain Home led 51-16 after three.

Coach Keener was pleased to see his Lady Tigers bounce back against Columbia.

"Yeah! That felt good. After that first quarter, we started a little sluggish, and then we picked it up from there."

Shelby Posey had a big game for the Lady Tigers, scoring 21 points, bringing down 16 rebounds and blocking six shots. Charde Huntington added 13 points, Dakota Barrie scored eight, Rachel Warila, Jessica Liercke and Fran Hale each added six, Blas Lord had five and Jennifer Juarez and Jasmyn Jewett both scored two points.

The win keeps the Lady Tigers' hopes for a state tourney berth alive. They face Skyview tonight at 6 p.m. at Middleton, needing a win tonight, and Friday night to secure third place and the final state tourney berth.

Nampa proved its win over the Lady Tigers was no fluke, shocking top-seeded Bishop Kelly 45-44 to advance to the district title game and secure a berth in next week's State 4A tourney at Mountain View.

Mountain Home and Skyview play at 6 p.m. this evening, with Emmett and Bishop Kelly playing at 8 p.m.. Tonight's winners play at 6 p.m. Friday for third place. Nampa and Middleton will play at 8 p.m. Friday for the district championship.

Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: