Varsity girls peaking at right time

Watch out Southern Idaho Conference! The Mountain Home Lady Tigers are starting to get their act together, and the results could be disastrous for the rest of the SIC 4A as the regular season winds down and the District III 4A Tournament gets underway.

If last week's games are any indication, the Lady Tigers could be playing at Mountain View Feb. 19-21, at the State 4A Girls Basketball Tournament.

Mtn. Home 60

Columbia 17

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers were clicking on all cylinders Thursday night at Columbia where they ran and shot themselves to a 60-17 win over the Lady Wildcats in conference girls basketball.

Mountain Home shot out to a 21-5 first quarter lead and led 42-12 at the half.

The Lady Tigers, who forced 28 turnovers on the night, led 54-15 after three, and with the clock running continually in the fourth, put Columbia away, 60-17.

Mountain Home Lady Tiger basketball coach Brent Keener thought his Lady Tigers played extremely well.

"I thought that first half, shooting-wise, was excellent. We rushed a few shots, but to shoot that well, and score 21 in each quarter, that's great!"

Three Lady Tigers scored in double figures, led by Francesca Hale with 17. Charde Huntington netted 13 points and Blas Lord added 11 points. Dakota Barrie had eight points, Shelby Posey four, Rachel Warila, Annika Moody and Jessica Liercke each scored two and Jasmyn Jewett had one point.

Mtn. Home 66

Skyview 52

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers continued on Saturday afternoon where they left off Thursday night, leading all the way in an impressive 66-52 win over Skyview in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium.

Except for a 2-2 tie, the Lady Tigers led all the way. Mountain Home shot out to a 20-10 first quarter lead.

Skyview battled back in the second quarter, cutting a 12-point Mountain Home lead down to three, 26-23, with 3:43 left in the half, but Francesca Hale and Dakota Barrie then hit baskets to up the lead to 30-23, with 3:02 left in the half.

The Lady Hawks battled back within one, 30-29, with 1:52 to go before halftime, but Mountain Home refused to fold, holding on to a 36-33 lead at halftime.

Mountain Home went on a 10-0 run to start the third quarter, stretching their lead to 46-33, with 3:59 left. The Lady Tigers took a 53-44 lead into the fourth quarter.

Skyview managed to cut the lead to seven points, 54-47, on a 3-pointer by Nickie Rudder early in the fourth quarter before the Lady Tigers pushed it back up to double digits. Their biggest lead of the night was 66-50, when Shelby Posey sank two free throws with 26.8 seconds left. The final score was 66-52, Lady Tigers.

"We definitely came to play. That was exciting to see," said a happy Coach Keener after the game.

"From the first quarter on we played -- I don't know that we played all 32 minutes -- but that's as close to playing a complete ballgame that we've had."

Coach Keener was happy with the way his Lady Tigers kept their composure any time Skyview battled back.

"We knew they were going to hit some shots at some point to get back into the game, but we were aggressive and went to the hoop and got some fouls and we knocked down some free throws."

The Lady Tigers shot 75 percent (18-24) from the free-throw line for the game, including 9 of 12 in the fourth quarter to keep Skyview at bay.

Dakota Barrie led Mountain Home with a career-high 18 points, Francesca Hale added 16 (including 10/12 from the free-throw line) and Shelby Posey netted 15, going seven of eight from the foul line. Charde Huntington added six points, Blas Lord and Jasmyn Jewett both scored five, and Rachel Warila added one. Huntington, Posey and Barrie were all double figures in rebounds, with 12, 12 and 10, respectively.

The win improved the Lady Tigers to 7-5 in conference, just one game back of Skyview in the conference standings and 8-9 overall.

Mountain Home traveled to Bishop Kelly Tuesday night, and closes out their regular season schedule at home Thursday night against Emmett for Senior Night. The District III 4A Tournament starts on Feb. 4.