Lady Tigers win summer hoops tourney

The Lady Tiger Varsity Basketball Program started its season with a bang this past weekend, winning the Silver Division of the Hawk-Dawg-Sader Tournament in Nampa.

The tournament consisted of 24 teams from throughout the state of Idaho.

On Friday the team played three games. The purpose of that round-robin phase of the tournament was to seed for Saturday's tournament.

First up for the Tigers was the Lady Raiders of Rimrock. In a tough battle the Tigers squeaked by the Raiders 26-21.

Leading the Tigers in scoring was Emily Moranda with 10 points. Jessica Egusquiza added 7 points. Chantell Crane and Marquina, Gilliam each tossed in 4 points and Ashley Kipp chipped in with 2 points.

Next up was the Lady Vikings of Middleton. In another close game the Tigers came up short 26-23.

Moranda and Crane led the team with 6 points each. Jessica Egusquiza had 4 points, Marquina Gilliam had 3 points, Sheena Nelson had 2 points, and Hannah Zamora had 1 point.

The last game of the evening was with the Eagle Mustangs. Eagle had beaten the Lady Tigers by 30 during the regular season. In a close and defensive game the Tigers held off Eagle to win 19-16.

Gilliam led the team with 15 points. Ashley Kipp and Hannah Zamora each chipped in 2 points.

By finishing with a 2-1 record the Lady Tigers were placed in the Silver Bracket for the Saturday Tournament.

First up for the Tigers on Saturday were the Lady Bruins of Twin Falls. The Tigers, using the inside game of Emily Moranda and the outside game of Marquina Gilliam, held off the Bruins 36-31.

Gilliam led the team with 14 points. Moranda added 12 points. Francesca Hale, Shalamar Enriquez, and Chantell Crane each added 2 points in the victory.

Next up was the Lady Rams from Highland High School of Pocatello. It would be the Rams' size against the speed of the Lady Tigers. Speed held on for the 26-23 win. Gilliam led the team again with 10 points. Moranda added 6 points. Sheena Nelson and Ashley Kipp each tossed in 4 points, and Chantell Crane and Jessica Egusquiza each chipped in 2 points.

With the win the Tigers moved on to the championship game against Bishop Kelly.

In the title game both teams were playing their sixth game in two days and both showed early how tired they really were. The game had numerous fouls and turnovers and at the end of 40 minutes of play the score stood 29-29. Overtime in the tournament was sudden death, so the first team to score would win the game. The Lady Knights got the tip and the ball first.

The Lady Tigers played tough man defense and forced the Knights to turn the ball over. After a time out, the Tigers moved the ball around and Marquina Gilliam took a 15-foot jumper and hit it, giving the Lady Tigers the victory and championship.

Gilliam led the team with 16 points. Chantell Crane had 7 points, Ashley Kipp had 4 points, and Jessica Egusquiza and Emily Moranda each had 2 points.

"Needless to say I'm very pleased with our play this weekend," said Tiger head coach Brian English. "We've come into the summer with the goal of learning how to play without size. The biggest girl we have is 5'9", so everyone we are going to play is bigger than us.

"We need to realize that we can do well against other teams and we proved that to ourselves over the weekend."

The team has eight games this week. The play Bishop Kelly, Kuna, and Skyview in summer league play, and then travel to Pocatello next weekend to play Pocatello, Madison, Hillcrest, Century and Buhl high schools.

Players on the team are: Marquina Gilliam, Jessica Egusquiza, Ashley Kipp, Sheena Nelson, Hannah Zamora, Chantell Crane, Emily Moranda, Sammie Dawson, Katie Price, Francesca Hate, Brandie Riggs and Shalamar Enriquez.