Lady Tigers defeat Skyview, but fall at home to Bishop Kelly

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers came away with a split of last week's conference basketball games, winning at Skyview, but losing at home to Bishop Kelly.

Mtn. Home 49

Skyview 43

Mountain Home went into Thursday night's game at Skyview tied with the Lady Hawks for third place in the conference standings, but Skyview, with their earlier 47-46 win at Mountain Home, had the edge, meaning the Lady Tigers needed a win if they wanted third place. That they did, getting past Skyview, 49-43.

The game was a battle all night, with 12 lead changes and six ties.

Three of the ties occurred in the first quarter before Skyview went on top, 13-10, after a quarter.

The second quarter saw Mountain Home got up early, 14-13, but then fall behind again, coming back to tie the game at 18 and 23, with Skyview up, 25-23, at the half.

Mountain Home, behind six quick points by Emily Moranda, went on an 8-0 run to start the third quarter to take a 31-25 lead, but the Lady Hawks battled back to force a 35-35 tie at the end of the quarter.

The Lady Tigers again started strong in the fourth quarter, going on a 10-0 run to lead, 45-35, with 4:30 left. It was a lead that kept them ahead, as they held off Skyview for the 49-43 win.

Mountain Home Lady Tiger basketball coach Brent Keener was proud of his girls' effort.

"That was awesome! That third quarter I thought was key. We gave that lead away later in the third, but the intensity we came out in the third, was big. Towards the end of the third we had trouble with that trap they were throwing at us coming out, and so we talked about it and switched things up a little and I thought we handled it much better, because once we broke it, then we got numbers and we could attack."

Emily Moranda led the Lady Tigers with 16 points, 12 of them in the second half. Angie Rios and Shelby Posey both had eight points, Francesca Hale, five, and Brandie Riggs and Chantell Crane each had four points.

Bishop Kelly 47

Mtn. Home 40

The Lady Tigers battled Bishop Kelly tough Saturday afternoon, but came up on the short end of a 47-40 conference loss to Bishop Kelly in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium.

The first quarter see-sawed back and forth, with Mountain Home up, 10-9, at the end of the quarter.

The second quarter was much the same, with the Lady Tigers falling behind, then battling back twice to take a three-point lead, but Bishop Kelly rallied to tie the game at 21-21 at the half.

An 8-0 run by Bishop Kelly to start the third quarter put the Lady Knights in control. Mountain Home managed to battle back within four points twice in the quarter, but the Lady Knights went up, 39-32, heading into the final eight minutes of play.

Mountain Home managed to get within three, at 41-38, with 2:56 left, but could come no closer, scoring just two more points the rest of the way, as Bishop Kelly cashed in from the foul line to win it, 47-40.

"It was a tough loss," said Coach Keener after the game. "Obviously they're a good team, you know, there's a reason they're tied for first.

"I still believe we can beat them, definitely. I think we came out a little flat after Thursday night."

Chantell Crane and Francesca Hale both scored in double figures for Mountain Home, Crane had 11, Hale, 10. Emily Moranda added eight points, Shelby Posey, six, Brandie Riggs and Hannah Zamora, two each, and Rebecca Wroten scored one.

The loss dropped the Lady Tigers to 8-4 in league play and 10-8, overall. Mountain Home traveled to Emmett last night, and closes out its regular season schedule tomorrow night at home against Middleton for Senior Night.

"That will be an emotional night for some girls, and hopefully they can ride off that emotion and play well," said Coach Keener of the Thursday night home game against Middleton. "We can play with Middleton, too. We didn't show it over there when we were down 15 after one, but we can play with them."