Lady Tigers rebound with three straight victories

It was a good week for Mountain Home Lady Tiger basketball last week. Not only did Dakota Barrie see her first action of the season after having knee surgery that kept her out of Mountain Home's first six games, but the Lady Tigers also broke into the win column, winning three straight games.

Mountain Home 45, Skyview 43

The Lady Tigers took the lead into the final quarter and held off Skyview in the fourth for a 45-43 win -- their first of the season.

Mountain Home led 7-6 after a quarter, but trailed by one, 19-18, at the half. They battled back to take a 29-27 lead into the fourth quarter and cashed in at the free-throw line in the fourth to pull out the win.

Mountain Home Lady Tiger basketball coach Brent Keener was happy to finally get that first win.

"It's a good feeling to get back into the winning column, and Skyview's a decent team. They've got three young players that are decent, so it was by no means a give-me."

Dakota Barrie played in her first game of season since coming back from her knee surgery and paced the Lady Tigers with 13 points.

Keesha Janis-Gibson netted 12 points, Jessica Liercke added seven, Hailey Belt six, Rachel Warila four, Courtney Christiansen two and Emilee Schetzle one.

Mountain Home 51, Nampa 25

Mountain Home started strong and ended strong, outscoring Nampa 30-5 in the first and fourth quarters on their way to a 51-25 win.

The Lady Tigers shot out to a 15-3 lead after a quarter and led 24-11 at the half

The two teams matched baskets in the third quarter, with Mountain Home up 36-23 heading into the fourth.

After Amanda Schuler scored early in the final quarter to cut the lead to 36-25, Mountain Home went on a 15-0 run to end the game, 51-25.

"It definitely wasn't pretty at times, but Nampa played hard," said Coach Keener. "They're not as skilled as they've been in the past, but I thought they played hard. The game got a little ugly at times. I think the officials let things go at times.

"Dakota made a huge difference, I think, in terms of she just calms everybody down. I'd like to see a little more out some of our other guards. Any time a team traps, some of our guards just want to get rid of the ball, and unfortunately, to the other team, but there were some quarters that I thought were good.

"That first quarter wasn't bad, especially defensively, and somewhat offensively, too, and then that fourth quarter, that technical (foul on Nampa coach Cameron Long) kind of changed the momentum."

Dakota Barrie led all scorers with 21 points. Hailey Belt and Keesha Janis-Gibson both added six, Jessica Liercke and Rachel Warila each had five, and Courtney Christiansen and Kelsey Egusquiza both scored four.

Mountain Home shot 40 percent (21/52) from the field, including making four of eight three-pointers. They hit just 50 percent (5/10) of their free throws.

Nampa put up 26 three-point attempts, making only four (15 percent), and shot 20 percent (9/44) from the field and just 25 percent (3/12) from the foul line.

Mountain Home controlled the boards 40-27, led by Keesha Janis-Gibson with 10 and Rachel Warila with eight.

Mountain Home 39, Kuna 29

The Lady Tigers led all the way Saturday night at Kuna, downing the Lady Kavemen 39-29.

Mountain Home led 9-6 after a quarter and stretched it to 21-12 at the half and 31-19 after three.

With Rachel Warila's trey to start the fourth quarter, the Lady Tigers upped their lead to 34-19, but Kuna refused to give up and an 8-0 run brought they back within seven, 34-27. Mountain Home then held off the Lady Kavemen for the 39-29 win.

Coach Keener was happy to get the win, despite the sloppy play at times.

"I guess that's how I'm going to have to look at it right now, because it definitely wasn't pretty. Literally, that whole first half we played two minutes of good basketball -- and that was at the end of the second quarter. Other than that, it was just horrid to watch. That second half, I thought there were better glimpses of basketball -- we didn't finish a lot of shots, missed some free throws, but it was a little better."

Dakota Barrie led the Lady Tigers with a double-double, scoring 12 points and bringing down 11 rebounds.

Jessica Liercke netted 10 points, Rachel Warila and Keesha Janis-Gibson both added seven and Hailey Belt scored three points.

Mountain Home shot 41 percent (14/34) from the field, including hitting four of seven three-pointers. They shot just 50 percent (7/14) of their free throws.

Kuna shot 30 percent (11/37) from the field and made just one of 10 long balls thrown up. They hit just 38 percent (6/16) from the free-throw line.

Mountain Home won the rebound battle 30-25, led by Dakota Barrie's 11 boards.

The Lady Tigers head into the holiday break with a 3-3 conference record and 3-6 overall mark. They return to action at Jerome on Jan. 4, and host Columbia on Jan. 6 and Skyview on Jan. 8.