Lady Tigers still seek first win

Another week of games came and went for the Mountain Home Lady Tigers still looking for their first girls basketball win of the season.

Jerome 52

Mountain Home 41

The Lady Tigers from Mountain Home battled Jerome from start to finish last Tuesday night in non-conference basketball in Mountain Home, but were outscored every quarter to come up short, 52-41.

Mountain Home trailed 16-10 after a quarter, and were down 25-17 at halftime. Mountain Home was outscored 27-24 second half.

Erica Stanton had a new season-high 13 points to lead Mountain Home against Jerome.

Nicole Roelofs added eight points, Dani Dean had six, Erin Mullen, three, Kaleen Bluemer and Lisa Kellerman, two each, and Katie Roelofs ended the night with one point.

Mountain Home had one of their best games shooting the ball, shooting 32 percent (14/44) from the field, including 38 percent (3/8) on treys. They hit 53 percent (10/19) from the foul line.

Jerome shot 37 percent (19/52) from the field, 22 percent (2/9) on threes, and cashed in on 71 percent (12/17) from the foul line.

Bishop Kelly 72

Mountain Home 43

An 18-0 run by Bishop Kelly over a five-minute time frame in the second half put the game out of reach Friday night, as the Lady Tigers lost to Bishop Kelly in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium.

Bishop Kelly shot out to a 9-0 lead before Mountain Home finally scored on a basket by Jessica Egusquiza. It was 23-8 Bishop Kelly after a quarter.

Mountain Home had one of its better offensive efforts of the season in the second period, as the team scored 17 points and trailed 40-25 at halftime.

Erica Stanton led a Lady Tiger surge in the third quarter, scoring seven of her game-high 13 points in that period as Mountain Home rallied to within 10, 44-34, with 4:51 left in the quarter.

But the Lady Tigers would not score again until the fourth quarter, and the Lady Knights would go on an 18-0 run before Mountain Home would score again early in the fourth quarter, and the lead stretched out to 62-34.

The closest the Lady Tigers got after that was 66-43, with 3:38 left, as Bishop kelly went on to win 72-43, winning for the 10th time in their last 12 games.

"We looked really good,, didn't we, to pull within 10?" said Coach Kohring in radio comments after the game, referring to the rally that got them within 10 in the third quarter.

"Our scramble defense was really working and offensively we got some good looks and things were falling for us, and it was exciting, but Bishop Kelly just kind of took off from there.

"It was nothing that we were necessarily doing wrong, or we let up, they just took it to another level and took it to us above and beyond, and that was it. But I was really pleased with us coming back to within 10 points.

"We had a tremendous second quarter -- 17 points -- that was a good offensive output. We were pleased with that."

Erica Stanton led the Lady Tigers with 13 points. Nicole Roelofs had nine points and three steals. Jessica Egusquiza added eight points, Katie Roelofs and Lisa Kellereman both scored four points, Michelle Reynolds and Dani Dean each added two, and Erin Mullen scored one.

Mountain Home shot 25 percent (14/57) from the field, including two of eight (25 percent) on long balls. They shot 72 percent (13/Bishop Kelly shot 41 percent (30/74) fro the field, 31 percent (4/13) on treys, and just 44 percent (8/18) from the free throw line.

Emmett 63

Mountain Home 44

The Lady Tigers played Emmett tough Saturday night at Emmett, with a 26-11 second quarter edge for the Lady Huskies the big difference in the game.

Mountain Home stayed with the Lady Huskies first quarter, and trailed just 14-13 heading into the second quarter, where Emmett outscored them 26-11 to take a 40-24 halftime lead.

The Lady Tigers came out determined in the third quarter, and played hard, trailing 48-33 heading into the final stanza. They again battled hard in the fourth quarter, never giving up in a 63-44 loss.

Erica Stanton led the Lady Tigers with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Michelle Reynolds and Erin Mullin both scored seven points, Kaleena Bluemer and Katie Roelofs each added six points, Dani Dean scored four points, Nicole Roelofs, two, and Jessica Egusquiza had one point.

Mountain Home shot 26 percent (17/65) from the field, including 13 percent (2/15) on three-pointers. They hit only 32 percent (8/25) from the foul line.

Emmett shot 31 percent (19/62) from the field, 20 percent (4/20) on threes, and hit 21 of 31 (68 percent) from the free-throw line.

The Lady Tigers hosted Nampa for Senior Night last (Tuesday) night, and close out their regular season schedule tomorrow (Thursday) night at Vallivue.

The District III 4A Girls Basketball Tournament starts Feb. 1 at Nampa and Caldwell. The Lady Tigers will go in seeded eighth and open District play at Nampa against the number one seed, which will be either Emmett, Skyview or Bishop Kelly.

Coach Kohring hopes for some good things at district.

"We want to play well. We would love to stir the pot at district, but right now, we're having a tough time with team chemistry. We can all do little things individually, but somehow we've got to pull it all together, and it's the end of the season, so we've got to do it now."