Lady Tigers losing streak ends in Wood River sweep

Lady Tigers' Sophia Harris led the team with 19 points during Mountain Home's win against the Wood River Lady Wolverines.

For the first time in a long time, the Mountain Home Lady Tigers basketball team completed a three-game sweep over an opponent.

The freshman team got things started with a 56-49 victory over the Wood River Lady Wolverines. After scoring a combined 49 points in their previous three contests, the Lady Tigers played with a newfound, blistering pace.

The starting five for the Tigers scored a combined 54 points. Freshman Sarah Miller led the Tigers with 20 points, including 11 in the fourth quarter.

Action at the hoop Garrett Mckenzie goes for two at the hoop as the Mountain Home Tigers battled Nampa during an away game on Saturday. Following their 64-62 overtime over Jerome on Friday, the Tigers varsity squad struggled on the court during a 45-63 loss to the Bulldogs. The Tigers hosted their first home game on Tuesday against Wood River and will host Jerome at today, Dec. 9, at Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium.

While the first contest was a track meet, the junior varsity contest was played at a much slower pace. Coach Benjamin Rayfield and his JV squad again found themselves in a nail biter.

The Lady Tigers would prevail, 35-34, over Wood River despite shooting three-for-25 from the charity stripe.

Sophomores Jesslyn Kriebs and Anyssa Garza were able to get their team through a tough shooting night with some timely threes. Kriebs finished the night with eight points with Garza adding five.

The two sub-varsity wins would set up the varsity team for a potential sweep against the Lady Wolverines. The Lady Tigers struggled in the beginning, rushing outside shots against Wood River's packed 2-3 zone.

Juniors Jacey Carr and Anna Pedroza had limited playing time in the game due to early foul trouble. With a climbing foul count and ineffective play from the starting lineup, varsity head coach Brent Keener turned to his seniors on the bench.

Sophia Harris made Friday night her coming-out party. The left-handed slasher had 19 points for the Lady Tigers to lead all scorers. Facing a nearly six-inch height difference, senior Willow Freer outworked the Wolverines on the glass.

Harris and Freer were not the only seniors to step up on the night with Julia Burton making several nice plays on both ends of the floor. The Lady Tigers led by as many as 15 in the second half.

At the final horn, Mountain Home came away victorious over Wood River, 45-40.

The win snapped a 28 game losing streak for the Lady Tigers. With the monkey off their backs, the team looked to make it two wins in a row against Gooding during an away game on Tuesday.

The Lady Tigers have not won back-to-back games since January 17, 2014.

Due to a scheduling change, Mountain Home will not play Caldwell at home on Thursday. That game was moved to Caldwell on Friday.

The change means that the Lady Tigers will play their next seven games on the road.