Lady Tigers overcome loss to earn state tourney berth

For the first time since 2002 the Mountain Home Lady Tigers are state tourney bound!

The Lady Tigers ended Skyview's season last Wednesday night, and then, after Emmett had shocked Bishop Kelly, 35-33, eliminating the regular season conference champs, held off the Lady Huskies on Friday night to take third place and the final state berth from the District III tournament.

Mtn. Home 33

Skyview 31

The two teams split during the regular season, both winning on their home court. They met against last Wednesday night at Middleton with the loser to be eliminated.

In a tough defensive struggle, the Lady Tigers prevailed 33-31.

The first quarter went back and forth. Mountain Home, in the midst of a 9-0 run, led 9-7 after a quarter and stretched it to 15-7 with 4:55 left in the first half.

Skyview countered with a 9-0 run of their own to shoot back out front, 16-15, with 25 seconds left in the half. Rachel Warila scored to put the Lady Tigers back in the lead, and Dakota Barrie added a free throw to make it 18-16, Mountain Home, at the half.

The Lady Tigers built up a 25-20 lead with 1:28 left in the third quarter, but Skyview went on a 10-0 run to shoot to a 30-25 lead with 5:38 left in the game.

Mountain Home battled back, getting a basket from Shelby Posey, and two free throws from Francesca Hale to come within one, 30-29, with 2:55 left. Hale then drained a trey with 1:30 left to put the Lady Tigers up 32-30.

Fouled shooting a three-pointer, Nickie Rudder made only one of three free throws to narrow the gap to one, 32-31, with 36 seconds left.

Hale then hit one of two free throws with 4.5 seconds left to push it back to two, 33-31.

Skyview played for the last shot, and went for the win with a trey, but missed, the Lady Tigers holding on for a 33-31 win.

"It's not what you'd call pretty, but you know what, we'll take it," said a happy Mountain Home Lady Tiger coach Brent Keener after the game.

Coach Keener was happy with the way his girls battled back, once they fell behind 30-25, and didn't give up.

"We really could have (folded, or given up), and that's been our issue before, where we've battled back into it, but we can't finish, and today we finished, which is nice."

Francesca Hale led the Lady Tigers in scoring with 15 points, Rachel Warila came in off the bench to score seven points, Shelby Posey added six and Dakota Barrie put in five points.

Mtn. Home 36

Emmett 21

The Lady Tigers were expecting to see Bishop Kelly in the battle for third place last Friday night at Middleton, but Emmett pulled off the shock of the district tourney, ending the Lady Knights season with their 35-33 Wednesday night win.

The Lady Huskies had much the same type of game plan against Mountain Home, but the Lady Tigers shot out to a lead and held off Emmett, 36-21 for third place and a State 4A Tournament berth.

Emmett had beaten Bishop Kelly on the strength of their spread offense, getting backdoor passes and easy shots at the basket. The Lady Huskies scored quickly to take a 2-0 lead, but Blas Lord hit a trey just 30 seconds into the game that gave Mountain Home the lead, which they didn't relinquish the rest of the way.

Mountain Home led 11-8 after a quarter, and stretched it to 19-12 at the half.

The closest Emmett came in the third quarter was six points, 21-15, early in the quarter. The Lady Tigers held them to just two points the rest of the quarter as they stretched their lead to 28-17 heading into the fourth quarter.

Mountain Home made just two of nine free throws in the fourth quarter, but held the Lady Huskies to just four points in the final eight minutes to win, 36-21.

"We did an excellent job in our man defense, not allowing those backdoor cuts," said a happy Coach Keener after the game. "They really wanted to spread the court and do the same things they did against Bishop Kelly."

Shelby Posey led a balanced scoring attack with 10 points, Francesca Hale added nine, Jasmyn Jewett and Dakota Barrie both scored four, and Blas Lord, Rachel Warila and Charde Huntington each scored three points.

The win secured third place in the District III 4A Tournament, qualifying the Lady Tigers for the State 4A Girls Basketball Tournament that starts tomorrow at Mountain View High School in Meridian.

The Lady Tigers open against a familiar foe -- the Lady Tigers from Jerome. Game-time is 6:15 p.m.

Jerome beat Mountain Home twice during the regular season, 39-28 at Mountain Home and 41-24 at Jerome.