Lady Tigers finish tough 5A schools; face 4A peers

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers continued to have problems with their 5A opponents last week, although they did play much better against Capital.

Mountain View 50

Mountain Home 26

A 15-2 first quarter deficit put the Lady Tigers in a hole they were unable to recover from.

Mountain Home managed 12 points in the second period, but trailed, 31-14 at halftime. Both teams struggled putting points on the board in the third, with the Lady Mavericks taking a 37-18 lead into the final quarter.

"We were a bit sluggish," said Lady Tiger coach Karen Kohring of the Mountain View game.

"Again, there were very good things defensively, but our offense again sputtered, so we're working on those sorts of things in practice."

Mountain Home shot 21 percent (8/38) from the field at Mountain View, including 29 percent (2/7) on three pointers, while the Lady Mavericks shot 29 percent (18/62) from the field, and 10 percent (1/10) from long range.

Kaleena Bluemer and Erica Stanton led the Lady Tigers with eight points apiece. Michelle Reynolds added six points. Nicole Roelofs netted two, and Jessica Egusquiza and Bethany Law each scored one.

Capital 55

Mountain Home 35

The Lady Tigers showed glimpses of things to come last Saturday night in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium before falling to Capital in non-conference basketball.

Despite shooting just 15 percent from the field first half, the Lady Tigers cashed in on free throws and good defense to lead a good share of the first two quarters.

A three-pointer by Erica Stanton put Mountain Home up, 3-0 with 7:14 left in the first quarter. They held the lead until the 4:46 mark of the first quarter, when Ali DeKerchove scored to put Capital up, 4-3. It was 9-8 Capital after a quarter, but ended the best first quarter effort for Mountain Home in four games, as in the previous three, they had tallied a total of seven points.

Jessica Egusquiza canned a trey from out front to give Mountain Home an 11-9 lead in the first minute of the second period. Two free throws by Erica Stanton made it 13-9, Mountain Home, with 5:48 left in the half. Paula Doerr hit one of two free throws to stretch it to 14-9 with 5:00 left in the half.

Tara Blood netted seven of her 12 first half points for Capital in the second quarter, as the Lady Eagles fought back to take a 21-16 lead. A basket and a free throw by Kaleena Bluemer cut the Capital lead to 21-19 at halftime.

Capital gradually extended their lead in the third quarter, and led, 35-24, heading into the final quarter.

Mountain Home cut the deficit to six points early in the fourth, getting a trey and two-point basket by Erica Stanton to make it 35-29, with 6:52 left, but hit only one more field goal and four free throws the rest of the game, while the Lady Eagles connected on three treys in the quarter to make it a 55-35 final.

"We looked much better as a team tonight," Coach Kohring said after the game. "We had a few moral victories within this game, despite the score, and it's a tough schedule to play these 5As. We're improving every game, and the biggest part of the game tonight was playing as a team unit, so we played a very good game for us."

Erica Stanton led Mountain Home in scoring with a season high 12 points, netting two treys.

Jessica Egusquiza, a sophomore, also netted two treys in a season high eight point effort.

Kaleena Bluemer scored five points, Katie Roelofs, four, Paula Doerr, three, Nicole Roelofs, two, and Erin Mullen, one, to round out the scoring.

The Lady Tigers opened their SIC 4A conference schedule last (Tuesday) night at home against Skyview. They return to action on Dec. 1 at Jerome in non-conference action, and return to conference action on Dec. 3, at Kuna.