Lady Tigers end season with losses

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers closed out their regular season girls basketball schedule with losses to Caldwell and Bishop Kelly.

Caldwell 50, Mountain Home 44

The Lady Tigers lost the lead in the second half and were unable to get it back last week, losing to Caldwell 50-44 Tuesday night in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium in Mountain Home.

The score went back and forth in the first quarter, with Mountain Home up one, 10-9, after a quarter.

A 7-0 run by the Lady Tigers to start the second quarter put them up by eight, and it looked like they might blow it open, but poor shooting, turnovers and fouls let Caldwell back in it and Mountain Home's lead was just 22-19 at the half.

A 26-21 lead two minutes into the third quarter was wiped out on an 8-0 Caldwell run. The Lady Tigers regained the lead at 30-29, before falling behind, 31-30. They managed to tie it at 31 each, but the Lady Cougars turned turnovers into points and a 35-33 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Mountain Home managed to get within a point at 36-35, with 5:14 left, but a 9-0 run by the Lady Cougars made it 45-35, with 2:05 left.

Through their good defense, the Lady Tigers were able to cut the deficit to five, but could come no closer, as the Caldwell squad hung on for a 50-44 conference win.

"We definitely had our chances to build a lead early and put them away, but missed way too many shots and kept them around," said Mountain Home Lady Tigers Coach Brent Keener. "Then they went on a run and we just couldn't buy a bucket."

Three Lady Tigers managed to score in double figures. Mattie Bennett led the way with 12 points, Jacci Cristobal and Madi Karst both netted 10 points. Karst also brought down 12 rebounds to post a double-double. Tracey Gordon added six points, Sable Lohmeier four and Whitney Sandberg two.

Mountain Home shot just 20 percent from the field, hitting only one of 17 three-pointers. They sank 66 percent of their free throws.

Caldwell shot 23 percent from the field, missing all nine trey attempts and were 67 percent from the foul line. The Lady Cougars won the battle on the boards, 48-37. Madi Karst led the Lady Tigers with 12.

Bishop Kelly 48,

Mountain Home 32

Consistency -- playing four quarters of basketball are keys to winning. It wasn't all there Thursday night for the Lady Tigers at Bishop Kelly. They battled the Lady Knights tough in the first half, but let it slip away in the second as they fell 48-32.

Bishop Kelly managed an 8-7 lead after quarter and the see-saw game went back and forth in the second quarter, with the Lady Tigers on top, 20-19, at the half.

Mountain Home managed to stay close in the second half, but Bishop Kelly outscored the Lady Tigers 18-8 in the fourth quarter to pull away for the 48-32 win.

Jacci Cristobal led the Lady Tigers in scoring with 17 points. Mattie Bennett added six points, Tracey Gordon five and Madi Karst and Sable Lohmeier both scored two.

Mountain Home shot 25 percent from the field, including three of 10 three-pointers and shot 58 percent from the free-throw line.

Bishop Kelly's shooting stats weren't much better -- 27 percent -- but they dominated the boards 53-31 and got a lot of second and third shots at the basket, putting the ball up 70 times.

Mountain Home finished the regular season 5-11 in conference and 5-15 overall. They have the number seven seed going into the District III 4A Basketball Tournament, which starts Saturday night. They will play at the second seed, which, going into Tuesday night's final regular season game could either be Middleton or Bishop Kelly.

The district tourney starts Saturday and continues next Tuesday at the higher seeds, then continues next Wednesday and Friday at Caldwell.