Lady Tigers improve season record with trio of wins

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers notched three more wins last week in girls basketball to even their season record to 6-6.

Mountain Home 53, Jerome 45

Mountain Home opened the new year at Jerome last Tuesday and came away with a hard-fought 53-45 win.

Mountain Home shot out to a 16-11 first quarter lead and led 24-14 at the half. The visiting Lady Tigers stretched the lead to 37-21 in the third quarter before Jerome cut it to 37-26 heading into the fourth quarter. They maintained their intensity in the fourth quarter and came away with the 53-45 win.

"That was by far our best that we've played this season," said Mountain Home girls basketball coach Brent Keener. "That's a really tough place to play -- probably one of the toughest places to play in the state. They seem to have quite the advantage there so I was very pleased."

Jessica Liercke, Hailey Belt and Dakota Barrie shared scoring honors with 12 points apiece and Barrie handed out 13 assists. Keesha Janis-Gibson added eight points, Rachel Warila seven and Kelsey Egusquiza two.

Mountain Home scorched the nets with 56 percent (22/39) shooting from the field, including two of seven long balls. They shot a dismal 44 percent (7/16) from the free-throw line.

Jerome hit 35 percent (13/35) of their shots and hit five of 12 treys. They made 74 percent (14/19) of their free throws.

Mountain Home 48, Columbia 19

The Lady Tigers made it five straight wins Thursday night, downing the Lady Wildcats from Columbia 48-19 in conference play in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium.

Mountain Home started strong, rolling to an 18-3 first quarter lead.

They led 26-7 at the half, 36-16 after three, and put it away in the fourth, 48-19.

"That first quarter was fun to watch, both defensively and offensively," said Coach Keener after the game. "Then we kind of let up, unfortunately. I would have liked to have seen a little better effort in that second quarter."

Keesha Janis-Gibson, Dakota Barrie and Jessica Liercke all scored in double figures, with 14, 12 and 10 points, respectively. Rachel Warila added seven, Jacci Cristobal three and Emilee Schetzle two.

Mountain Home shot 46 percent (19/41) from the field, making two of the 10 long balls they put up. They shot 80 percent (8/10) from the free-throw line.

Columbia shot a chilly 18 percent (7/39) from the field, including two of 14 treys, and hit 75 percent (3/4) from the foul line.

Mountain Home won the battle of the boards, 26-21, led by Dakota Barrie with 10.

Mountain Home 49, Skyview 37

The Lady Tigers made it six straight wins Saturday afternoon, downing Skyview 49-37 in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium.

Mountain Home battled back from a 4-0 deficit with a 13-3 run to go up 13-7. They led 13-11 after a quarter.

They stretched their lead to 19-11 early in the second quarter before Skyview hit three treys to tie the game at 20-20, with 3:36 left in the half. Skyview managed a 23-22 lead at halftime.

Mountain Home came out strong in the third quarter and held Skyview to just two in the quarter -- a basket by Cache Atkinson with 3:49 left in the period -- as Mountain Home built their lead to 33-25 after three.

Skyview managed to cut the Mountain Home lead to five, 35-30, with under six minutes remaining, but a 10-2 run made it 45-32, with 2:50 left.

They got within eight, 45-37, with 2:06 left, but Keesha Janis-Gibson sank four straight free in the final 30 seconds to push the margin to 49-37.

Coach Keener was pleased with his girls and their effort against Skyview.

"Yes, it was (a good effort)," he said. "That's a good ball club, and that was a good ball game. It was fun to watch."

Coach Keener thought the third quarter effort holding Skyview to just two points was a big factor.

"That third quarter was huge. Defensively, I thought we did awesome. (Cache) Atkinson hurt us, but she doesn't scare me. I think she was feeling it today, but the big three (Pasta, Bonner and Rowe), they went seven-for-36 (shooting), so I thought we did an awesome job shutting them down."

Dakota Barrie led the Lady Tigers in scoring with 19 points and brought down 11 rebounds for a double-double.

Keesha Janis-Gibson netted 10 points, Rachel Warila nine, Jessica Liercke six, Jacci Cristobal three and Hailey Belt two.

Mountain Home shot 40 percent (20/50) from the field, hitting two of seven treys, and were 50 percent (7/14) from the free-throw line.

Skyview shot just 25 percent (15/59) from the field, including just four of 24 long balls, and hit 60 percent (3/5) from the foul line.

The win improves the Lady Tigers to 6-6 on the season and 5-3 in conference. The Lady Tigers hosted Bishop Kelly Tuesday night and travel to Emmett on Friday for important league games.