Lady Tigers lose to Skyview, Nampa

Friday, January 31, 2014

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers dropped games to Skyview and Nampa last week in conference girls basketball.

Skyview 79, Mountain Home 59

Skyview pulled away in the third quarter and kept the Lady Tigers at bay in a 79-59 conference win last Tuesday in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium in Mountain Home.

The first quarter saw four lead changes and three ties, with Skyview ahead 16-13 at the quarter's end.

Mountain Home was able to cut the deficit to on, 18-17, early in the second quarter, before the Lady Hawks shot their way to a 39-28 half-time lead. A 7-0 start by Skyview to start the third quarter put the game out of reach, as they led 59-35 going into the fourth quarter.

An 8-0 run by Mountain Home early in the fourth quarter brought the Lady Tigers within 17 at 60-43, but that would be as close as they would get, as Skyview continued to shoot well, winning 79-59.

"There were just a few stretches that killed us," said Mountain Home girls basketball coach Brent Keener. "There was that stretch at the end of the second quarter when they pushed it up to 11, and then that stretch at the beginning of the third quarter where we didn't come out ready to play and they scored the first eight or nine points."

Mattie Bennett had a career and season-high 28 points to lead Mountain Home. Madi Karst also had a career and season-high 11 points. Whitney Sandberg and Jacci Cristobal both added six points, Sable Lohmeier had four points, Kristan Jackson and Tracey Gordon both scored two points.

Mountain Home shot 37 percent from the field, hitting five of its 14 three-pointers. They shot 57 percent from the free-throw line.

Skyview shot a warm 47 percent and hit 47 percent of it long balls. They managed just 48 percent from the foul line. Bailey Pasta led Skyview with 30 points, Leah Bonner had 23 and Hailey Graviet sank four of five treys on her way to 14 points.

Nampa 50, Mountain Home 35

It was a tough night getting the ball through the hoop for Mountain Home Thursday night, as they dropped a 50-35 conference contest to Nampa in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium in Mountain Home.

Nampa led all the way, but the Lady Tigers kept it close early. The Lady Bulldogs were up 13-10 after a quarter and went on a 10-0 run to start the second quarter, going into the locker room up 27-16.

Mountain Home managed to cut the lead to seven, at 30-23, with 5:19 left in the third quarter before the Lady Bulldogs stretched it to 13. A 6-0 run by Mountain Home at the end of the quarter made it 36-29, Nampa, heading into the fourth.

Nampa's Danielle Jardine scored eight of her game-high 21 points in the fourth quarter as they pulled away for a 50-35 win.

"I don't know what was going on, but we just didn't seem to have much energy," said Coach Keener. "We seemed really flat and obviously had trouble scoring the basketball."

Jacci Cristobal and Mattie Bennett both managed to score in double figures. Cristobal had 14, Bennett 11, but they were essentially it as Mountain Home managed just 10 more points and from only two players -- Tracey Gordon added six points and Madi Karst four.

Mountain Home shot just 25 percent from the field, including hitting just three of its 14 treys. They hit 67 percent from the free-throw line.

Nampa shot 45 percent from the field, but hit only one of 11 behind the arc. They were just 33 percent from the foul line.

Nampa had a narrow 33-32 edge on the boards. Mattie Bennett led Mountain Home with 10 rebounds.Sadie Lohmeier had seven.

Mountain Home closes out its regular season schedule this week. They were at home against Caldwell for Senior Night on Tuesday and go to Bishop Kelly on Thursday.

"If we can play two solid games next week, I think that would be huge (going into district)," said Coach Keener after the Nampa game. "Tonight was a little setback -- I thought we'd been playing much better, but hopefully we can turn the page from here and see what happens next week."

The Lady Tigers dropped to 5-9 in league play and 5-13 overall this season.

The Mountain Home News continues its weekly series of a closer look at the Mountain Home Lady Tigers varsity basketball team.

Alexis Juarez

Alexis Juarez is a five-foot, five-inch junior. The daughter of Daniel and Charlene Juarez, her hobbies include basketball and camping.

Her goals for the season and future goals included "to improve and have a great season."

Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: