Lady Tigers struggle during losses to Emmett, Middleton

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers continued to struggle in girls basketball last week, dropping games to Emmett and Middleton.

Emmett 64, Mountain Home 47

The Lady Tigers hosted Emmett last Tuesday night in conference play in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium. They fell behind early and were unable to rally back as the Lady Huskies won 64-47.

"It was a little unexpected in terms of what Emmett brought," said Mountain Home Lady Tiger coach Brent Keener of the Emmett game.

"Those girls have improved, but overall, I didn't think we played very well."

Mountain Home fell behind, 20-11, after a quarter, and was down 34-19 at the half. The Lady Tigers stayed even with Emmett in the second half, but the damage was done, and they fell short, 64-47.

Keesha Janis-Gibson led the Mountain Home scoring with 16 points. Rachel Warila added nine. Jessica Liercke, Hailey Belt and Jacci Cristobal each had six points and Emilee Schetzle added four.

Middleton 58, Mountain Home 23

The defending State 4A champion Middleton Lady Vikings worked the Lady Tigers over Friday night, winning 58-23 at Middleton in conference girls basketball.

Middleton jumped out to an early 8-0 lead and maintained a 10-point lead after a quarter. The team stretched its lead to 29-14 at halftime and 43-22 after three quarters.

Mountain Home managed just one point in the fourth quarter -- going the final seven and a half minutes of the game without scoring, as the Lady Vikings rolled to a 58-23 win.

"The first half I didn't really think was too bad. I thought we played with some intensity and some heart," said Coach Keener after the game.

But, he added, "It was disheartening to see that fourth quarter -- they're still pushing the ball and we just absolutely quit."

Rachel Warila led the Lady Tigers with 10 points. Jessica Liercke added eight for Mountain Home while Keesha Janis-Gibson had three and Courtney Christiansen and Jacci Cristobal both had one point.

Mountain Home, who missed all six three-point attempts, shot 28 percent (9/32) from the field and were 0 for 11 from the field in the fourth quarter. They hit just 38 percent (5/13) from the free-throw line.

Middleton shot 45 percent (24/53) from the field, including 50 percent (20/40) inside the arc. They shot 86 percent (6/7) from the foul line.

The Lady Tigers fell to 0-3 in conference and 0-6 overall. They were scheduled to play at Skyview Tuesday night, host Nampa Thursday night, and travel to Kuna on Saturday night.