Lady Tigers winless after Canyon Ridge tourney

The new year brings with it hope that the Mountain Home Lady Tigers basketball team will find the win column. They came ever so close to finding that win on their final game of the Canyon Ridge Holiday Tournament in Twin Falls after dropping the first two games of the tourney in lopsided fashion.

Twin Falls 58, Mountain Home 19

Mountain Home opened the Canyon Ridge tourney on Dec. 29 against Twin Falls. The Lady Bruins were unbeaten and ranked number one in the state 4A and played like it in rolling to an easy 58-19 victory.

Twin Falls led all the way, shooting out to a 15-4 first quarter lead, stretched it to 34-10 at the half and 49-17 after three. Mountain Home managed just two points in the fourth quarter, as the Lady Bruins prevailed, 58-19.

"We got overwhelmed by a very good Twin Falls team," said Mountain Home girls basketball coach Brent Keener. "They suffocated us with their defense."

Jacey Carr led the Lady Tigers scoring with six points. Venessa Sabol and Missy Jessup both scored four points, Whitney Sandberg, three, and Julia Burton added two points to round out the scoring.

Blackfoot 48, Mountain Home 28

Mountain Home faced Blackfoot in the second day of the tourney on Dec. 30 and lost to the Lady Broncos, 48-28, in a battle of two winless teams.

Mountain Home managed just two free throws in the first quarter, going 0 for 8 from the field, and trailed 13-2 after a quarter.

They managed to cut into the deficit in the second quarter and trailed 18-10 at the half.

Blackfoot outscored the Lady Tigers 14-4 in the third quarter to up its lead to 32-14 after three.

Mountain Home doubled their point total in the fourth quarter, but it was too little, too late, as they fell to Blackfoot 48-28.

When asked to comment on the game, Coach Keener said, "I don't know what to say except disappointing -- except for our free throw shooting -- we did shoot a very good percentage."

Julia Burton paced the Lady Tigers in scoring with nine points. Missy Jessup added six points, Ashten Harrigan scored four, Alexis Juarez, three, and Venessa Sabol, Whitney Sandberg and Elisabeth Ryan each scored two points.

Mountain Home shot jut 19 percent from the field, hitting just two of 16 three-pointers. They did connect on 10 of 12 from the free throw line for 83 percent.

Canyon Ridge 45, Mountain Home 41

The Lady Tigers closed out the tourney on Saturday against the host Lady Riverhawks from Canyon Ridge and lost 45-41 as they blew an 11-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Mountain Home was up 12-11 after a quarter, and went into the locker room at halftime with a 23-19 lead. A 16-point third quarter for Mountain Home gave them a 39-28 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Disaster struck for the Lady Tigers in the final eight minutes, however, as they managed just two points, and Canyon Ridge came back to win, 45-41.

"The girls played much better, and then got a little tight in the fourth quarter and started to panic," said Coach Keener.

Whitney Sandberg led Mountain Home with 15 points and Missy Jessup added 12. Julia Burton scored eight, Venessa Sabol four and Elisabeth Ryan two.

The Lady Tigers fall to 0-12 on the season and take a 0-1 conference mark into tonight's conference game at Bishop Kelly. They host Middleton in conference play Friday night.