Lady Tigers suffer two more losses

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers suffered two more losses last week, running their losing skid to seven straight.

Middleton 59, Mountain Home 19

A slow start is usually bad news against any team one plays, but when it's the Middleton Lady Vikings, who have won three straight 4A state basketball titles and 68 straight games, it is asking for disaster.

Mountain Home failed to make a field goal in the first quarter last Tuesday night, as Middleton rolled to a 20-2 first quarter lead on their way to their 69th straight win, a 59-19 victory over the Lady Tigers.

Tracey Gordon sank two free throws with 36 seconds left in the quarter for Mountain Home's only points in the first period. Jacci Cristobal scored in the first 30 seconds of the second quarter for their first field goal of the game. She also added a free throw later in the quarter and the Lady Tigers got a two-point basket and a three-pointer from Mattie Bennett as they trailed Middleton 33-10 at the half.

Middleton stretched its lead to 49-17 heading into the fourth and the Lady Tigers managed only a basket by Whitney Sandberg in that period, as the game ended 59-19, Middleton.

Despite the lopsided loss, Mountain Home coach Brent Keener saw some positives from the game.

"We gave effort, we just couldn't score, and Middleton's a very good team. Even though we struggled mightily in the first quarter, we got after it. I think a lot of it was Senior Night, nerves, everyone's anxious, and we just had some trouble scoring, but I thought effort-wise, we played really hard."

Mattie Bennett and Selena Foster both scored five points to lead the Lady Tigers. Jacci Cristobal added three points, Marissa Streeter, Whitney Sandberg, and Tracey Gordon each scored two points.

The loss dropped the Lady Tigers to 5-15 on the season and 5-11 in conference.

They headed into the District III 4A Tournament as the number six seed and openwd against third-seeded Skyview.

Skyview 46, Mountain Home 31

Mountain Home was hoping the old cliche of the postseason being a brand new season would help them turn their season around, but Skyview went on a 15-0 run in the first and second quarters to push ahead and spell defeat for the Lady Tigers, 46-31.

The two teams matched baskets early, but with the score tied at 8-8 Skyview went on a 15-0 run into the second quarter that pushed its lead to 23-8. It was 27-15, Skyview, at the half.

Skyview stretched its lead to 18 points in the third quarter, with Mountain Home scoring late in the period to make it 37-21, Skyview, after three.

Skyview stretched its lead to 19 points in the fourth quarter, with Mountain Home scoring the final four points of the game to make it a 46-31 final.

Coach Keener lamented their poor shooting effort.

"That was really the key. I thought defensively we did a pretty good job. I thought we did a really good job on Bailey (Pasta), and I thought we did a really good job on Kiarra (Rowe) -- we sort of frustrated them at times.

"We just looked really tired. Granted, we've only had an eight-man rotation forever, we just looked exhausted, and if you don't have legs, that kind of hurts your shot."

Selena Foster and Tessa Pachner both scored eight points to lead the Lady Tigers in scoring. Madi Karst added six points, Whitney Sandberg scored four, Marissa Streeter three and Mattie Bennett two.

The loss put Mountain Home in the consolation bracket Tuesday against Caldwell, a team they split with during the season, winning early in the season at Caldwell, 35-24, and losing at home, 51-50.

A Tuesday night win would have them playing today, Feb. 6, at Bishop Kelly, and a win there would put them in the third-place game on Friday. A loss knocks them out of the tournament.