Lady Tigers bow out at district

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers fought to the very end, but overcoming a 12-2 first-quarter deficit proved to be too much for Mountain Home last Tuesday night when they fell to Kuna 43-35 in a loser-out game of the District III 4A Girls Basketball Tournament at Bishop Kelly.

The Lady Tigers missed the first six shots they shot in the first quarter against Kuna, as the Lady Kavemen shot out to a 9-2 lead.

Ali Hillman scored with 2:41 left in the quarter for Mountain Home's only score of the quarter. Mountain Home turned the ball over eight times in the first eight minutes of play.

The Lady Tigers managed seven points in the second period, but Kuna netted 10 to take a 22-9 advantage into the locker room at halftime.

Mountain Home worked out the kinks offensively in the second half, scoring 13 points in the third, but the Lady Kavemen put down 14 to take a 36-22 lead into the final period.

The Lady Tigers rallied and cut the lead to 39-31 on Kim Neely's trey with 2:45 left in the game. They then had two times down the floor that they could have cut the lead, but missed inside shots both times.

They did eventually cut the lead to six, at 39-33, on Amanda Bitterman's basket with 1:10 left, and again, at 41-35, on another basket by Neely with 12 seconds left, but could get no closer, as Kuna won 43-35.

Mountain Home outscored the Lady Kavemen 33-31 over the last three quarters, but Lady Tiger coach Karen Kohring agreed, the 12-2 first quarter deficit was too much to make up.

"We played hard, but you can't shoot like that, and when you spot them that much, it's a tough one to come back on. It was a good effort, and we did come back, which is what we wanted to show."

Ali Hillman led the Mountain Home effort with a double-double, scoring 10 points and hauling down 14 rebounds. Kim Neely netted seven points and led the team with three steals and three assists. Kylie Lippert had a season-high six points, and brought down eight boards. Erica Stanton and Kim Gulley each scored four points, and Amanda Bitterman and Christa Stanton both scored two.

Mountain Home shot just 29 percent (13/45) from the field for the game, including one of two (50 percent) treys. They netted eight of 13 free throws (62 percent).

Kuna hit on 15 of 44 (34 percent) field goals, including 36 percent (4/11) from three-point range, and hit only nine of 21 (43 percent) from the foul line.

Mountain Home dominated the boards, 45-26, and turned the ball over 23 times to Kuna's 15.

The Lady Tigers finished 2-19 overall on the season.