Lady Tigers stumble in non-conference games

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers showed signs of brilliance at times last week, but dropped two more non-conference girls basketball games.

Jerome 47

Mtn. Home 39

A fourth-quarter rally for Mountain Home proved to be too little, too late last Tuesday as they fell to the Jerome Lady Tigers 47-39 in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium.

Mountain Home never led in the game but stayed close in the first quarter, with Jerome leading 12-7 after eight minutes. The visiting Lady Tigers of Jerome stretched their lead to ten points on a couple of occasions in the second quarter before Mountain Home came back within seven, 20-13, at the half.

Jerome enjoyed its biggest lead of the game at 31-16 with 2:34 left in the third quarter. It was 35-21, Jerome, heading into the final quarter.

Mountain Home finally combined some offense with defense in the fourth quarter and cut the deficit to seven, 39-32, when Jessica Liercke canned a three with 3:55 left in the game, but that was as close as they would get. The final score was 47-39.

In radio comments after the game, Mountain Home girls coach Brent Keener lamented the slow start by his girls.

"They did play hard, but I think someone told them game time started about 8:45, though. We didn't play very hard the first two-and-a half to three quarters. That first half was really disappointing.

"I thought the only one that really played hard was Keesha (Janis-Gibson). Other than that, I honestly don't think the other seven broke a sweat -- they were just kind of going through the motions. I thought Rachel (Warila) picked it up and got quite a few steals in the second half.

"We've just got to follow the game plan a little better."

Keesha Janis-Gibson led the Mountain Home scoring with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Rachel Warila had ten points and six steals -- five of them in the fourth quarter. Jessica Liercke added seven points, all in the fourth quarter. Kelsey Egusquiza had five, Hailey Belt four and Emilee Schetzle two.

Eagle 49

Mtn. Home 20

Mountain Home shot frigid from the field Saturday night as they lost to the Lady Mustangs at Eagle, 49-20.

Mountain Home grabbed an early 2-0 lead 17 seconds into the ball game as Jessica Liercke sank two free throws. They did not score again the rest of the first quarter and trailed 10-2 after one.

Mountain Home went over 13 and a half minutes before they hit their first field goal -- by Keesha Janis-Gibson with 2:25 left in the first half. They trailed 22-8 at the half.

Neither team could muster much offense in the third quarter, which ended with Eagle on top, 30-15.

A 10-0 run midway through the fourth quarter helped Eagle pull away for a 49-20 win.

Coach Keener had no answers for the dismal outing at Eagle.

"It was pretty ugly. Offensively, I don't think anyone really wanted the ball. I knew Eagle was athletic, and they had some quickness, and if we have a bunch of girls that don't want to handle the basketball, we can't get into an offense.

"Defensively, I thought we did a decent job, and I'm sure we got tired in the fourth, but once again that was frustrating in the fourth when a few subs did a really good job, made some stops, and then I bring two senior starters back in and they (Eagle) go on like a 10-0 run, and it's like Holy Smokes!"

Lady Tiger freshman Jacci Cristobal led Mountain Home with six points. Jessica Liercke and Keesha Janis-Gibson both had five points, Rachel Warila had two points, and Kelsey Egusquiza and Hailey Belt each had one point.

The Lady Tigers shot a frigid 16 percent (4/25) from the field, which included missing all six three-point attempts. They hit 57 percent (12/21) of their free throws. They also turned the ball over 33 times.

Eagle shot just 27 percent (12/44 from the field, but made four of 13 (31 percent) of their three-point shots. They also made 21 of 31 (68 percent) of their free throws.

Mountain Home hosted Wood River Tuesday night, and travels to Wood River next Tuesday (Nov. 30). They open conference play on Dec. 2 at home against Skyview, and travel to Bishop Kelly on Dec. 4.

Coach Keener did get some good news earlier in the week after Dakota Barrie's surgery on her torn meniscus. She has already started rehab and could be back within four to six weeks.

"If we don't start learning how to take care of the ball, it's going to be a long time before Dakota comes back. This is an opportunity for our girls to step up and play without her, so somehow we've got to figure out how we're going to seize that and take advantage of the situation. It's obviously not ideal right now, but we're hoping in the long run it's going to help us."