Lady Tigers score easy wins over Columbia and Kuna, but fall to Jerome

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers picked up conference wins over Kuna and Columbia last week, but lost at Jerome in non-conference play.

Mtn. Home 41

Kuna 22

Mountain Home struggled early, but gradually pulled away for a 41-22 conference girls basketball win at Kuna last Tuesday night.

Mountain Home trailed early and was tied at 9-9 after a quarter.

The Tigers then went on a 9-0 run to start the second and led 19-12 at halftime.

Mountain Home built up a 15-point lead in the third, and took a 31-19 lead into the final quarter.

Kuna got a basket from Chelsi Tolbert to start the fourth quarter, but only managed a free throw by Delphine Arizana late, as the Lady Tigers pulled away for a 41-22 win.

"That first half was not too pretty, but it's nice to get the win," said Mountain Home Lady Tiger coach Brent Keener after the game. "That first half we didn't shoot the ball very well, but turnovers killed us. We didn't take care of the ball, and we've had issues with that quite often, and they (errors) were unforced. We came out extremely flat and probably overconfident, though I tried to preach to them all week that you can't overlook teams like this because they want to beat you."

Francesca Hale and Emily Moranda both scored in double figures at Kuna. Hale had 12 points, Moranda, 10. Shelby Posey added six, Angie Rios, five, Brandie Riggs, four, and Chantell Crane and Blas Lord, two.

Mtn. Home 54

Columbia 37

The Lady Tigers kept Columbia winless, downing the Lady Wildcats, 54-37, Friday night in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium in Mountain Home.

Mountain Home shot out to a 13-4 lead, and led, 15-8, after a quarter.

After shooting out to a 22-8 lead early in the second quarter, the Lady Tigers suffered a scare when Angie Rios went to the floor with an injury and sat out the rest of the half.

Columbia mounted a 14-1 run to come back within one, 23-22, with 1:05 left in the half.

Emily Moranda sank two free throws, and Rebecca Wroten banked in a three, and Mountain Home went to the locker room up, 28-22, at halftime.

Angie Rios returned to the floor in the second half, sparking the Lady Tigers, who built up a 12-point lead, and led 40-30 heading into the fourth quarter.

Mountain Home went on a 10-0 run to start the fourth, and led 50-30 with just under two minutes left in the game. The Lady Tigers ended up with a 54-37 win.

"It was a good second half for us," said Coach Keener after the game. "I thought we started really well, we shot the ball extremely well to begin with, and then Angie went down in that freak play where she kind of got boxed out a little early before she came down, and we got a little flat after that. Second half we got going again and I thought we executed on offense at times. Defensively, I thought we did pretty well, the only exception was (Kara) Carter -- that looked like a different girl, I did not recognize her."

Francesca Hale and Emily Moranda both scored in double figures against Columbia. Hale had 16 points, Moranda, 12. Shelby Posey added eight points, Chantell Crane, five, Rebecca Wroten and Angie Rios both scored four, Blas Lord, three, and Hannah Zamora had two points.

Kara Carter, who scored just one point against Mountain Home last month at Columbia, led the Lady Wildcats with 23 points, including 13 of 18 from the free throw line.

Jerome 39

Mtn. Home 23

Mountain Home fell behind 17-2 in the first quarter Saturday afternoon at Jerome and could never make up the difference, losing to Jerome, 39-23 in non-conference action.

Mountain Home held Jerome to four points in the second quarter, but could score no more than four themselves, as they trailed 21-6 at the half.

"That first quarter we got down, 17-2, and that was the ball game," said Coach Keener. "We battled back and played them pretty even the rest of the way, but just couldn't overcome that big hole."

Francesca Hale led the Mountain Home scoring with seven points, Hannah Zamora and Emily Moranda both scored four, Rebecca Wroten and Shelby Posey each had three, Angie Rios scored two.

The loss dropped the Lady Tigers to 9-7 overall. They go to Skyview Thursday night tied with the Lady Hawks at 7-3 in league play, and host Bishop Kelly Saturday afternoon at 2:00 in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium.