After two losses, Lady Tigers rebound against Emmett

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers managed one win out of three games last week, losing to Skyview and Bishop Kelly before bouncing back to beat Emmett.

Skyview 44, Mountain Home 28

A frigid night of shooting hurt the Lady Tigers at Skyview as they lost to the Lady Hawks 44-28 last Tuesday night at Skyview.

Mountain Home connected on just three field goals in the first half, as the team fell behind 15-5 after a quarter and 25-10 at the half.

They stayed with Skyview in the second half, scoring 18 to Skyview's 19 points, but the damage was already done and they were unable to make up any ground on the Lady Hawks.

"Another slow start and a tough first half and we had trouble shooting the basketball," lamented Mountain Home girls basketball coach Brent Keener after the game. "We've got to find a way to get some other girls to contribute and score some points."

Selena Foster led the Mountain Home scoring with 10 points, Jacci Cristobal added six, Marissa Streeter and Mattie Bennett both scored four and Whitney Sandberg and Madi Karst each had two points. Mountain Home was without post starter Tessa Pachner, who is out with strep throat.

Mountain Home shot just 21 percent from the field for the game, and hit just one of seven three-point shots. They hit 53 percent from the free-throw line.

Skyview's shooting percentage wasn't much better at 23 percent, but they put up many more shot attempts at 69. They hit 83 percent from the charity stripe.

Skyview won the battle of the boards, 40-33. Selena Foster led the Lady Tigers with eight rebounds.

Bishop Kelly 52,

Mountain Home 32

The fatigue factor set in for the Lady Tigers Thursday night as they couldn't get many shots to drop for them in the second half and Bishop Kelly pulled away for a 52-32 conference win in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium in Mountain Home.

Bishop Kelly shot out to an early 10-0 lead, but the Lady Tigers responded with an 11-0 run of their own to take the lead, 11-10. It was 13-12, Bishop Kelly, after a quarter.

Mountain Home fell behind by six, 23-17, with 3:12 left in the first half, then rallied to take the lead, 24-23, with 22 seconds left. The Lady Knights then scored twice in the last 10 seconds to go into the locker room at halftime up 27-24.

Mountain Home went almost three minutes into the third quarter before scoring as the Lady Knights built their lead to 33-24.

Marissa Streeter's basket with three minutes left in the third quarter brought Mountain Home back within six, 35-29, but it would be Mountain Home's last field goal of the night, as nothing else would fall for them the rest of the game. It was 43-30, Bishop Kelly, after three.

Mountain Home scored just two free throws by Mattie Bennett in the final minute of the fourth quarter, as they missed all 11 shots from the field and lost 52-32.

Coach Keener thought his team played a great first half.

"That first half was awesome to watch. I thought we really got after it and executed on offense and really limited our turnovers. We had a few, but compared to what we had in our last few games, that was really good."

Coach Keener, who has just eight players eligible to play and had one home sick with strep throat, thought the fatigue factor became prevalent in the second half.

"We just wanted to make sure we kept the intensity up (in the second half), which I think we did for the most part. We got tired, though.

"With Madi Karst in foul trouble, that made a big difference when you've only got two on the bench to begin with. I thought we got some pretty good looks, but the fatigue factor -- the shots just wouldn't go in."

Whitney Sandberg and Jacci Cristobal led the Mountain Home scoring with a eight points each, Selena Foster added seven, Marissa Streeter four, Mattie Bennett three and Tracey Gordon two.

Mountain Home ended the game shooting just 21 percent from the field, including just one of five on three-pointers. They hit just 45 percent from the free-throw line.

Bishop Kelly shot 46 percent from the field, although they missed all eight trey attempts. They shot 50 percent from the foul line. The Lady Knights ended the game with a close 32-29 edge in rebounds. Selena Foster led Mountain Home with eight boards.

Mountain Home 41, Emmett 30

The Lady Tigers bounced back into the win column Saturday afternoon at Emmett, holding off the scrappy Lady Huskies 41-30 in conference basketball.

Down 6-5 midway through the first quarter, Mountain Home came back to lead, 9-6, after a quarter, on part of a 10-0 run to go up 15-6 midway through the second. It was 20-11, Mountain Home, at the half.

The Lady Tigers kept Emmett from getting any closer in the second half, and led 34-21 after three, holding off the scrappy Lady Huskies in the fourth for a 41-30 win.

"It wasn't pretty, but I guess we'll take the win and leave it at that," said Coach Keener after the game.

Selena Foster led Mountain Home with a double-double, scoring 16 points and pulling down 13 rebounds. She also had six steals.

Jacci Cristobal added seven points and five steals, Madi Karst scored six points, Marissa Streeter five and had three assists, and Whitney Sandberg and Tracey Gordon both scored two point. Sandberg also had six steals.

The win improved the Lady Tigers to 3-3 in conference and 3-6 on the season. Mountain Home has just one game this week, traveling to Middleton Friday night to face the Lady Vikings.

"Obviously, we're going to have to play about a 100 percent better, or they'll run us out of the gym," said Coach Keener of the Middleton game.

Mountain Home will play at Kuna on Dec. 20 and is home Dec. 27 for a 3 p.m. game against Twin Falls.