Lady Tigers' struggles continue

The Mountain Home Lady Tigers are hoping some time off can help them heal.

The Lady Tigers, who lost last year's leading scorer and rebounder in the third game of the season with a broken nose and concussion, and also lost a six-foot post to club volleyball, had two more girls go down with injuries in the conference opener against Skyview, as they lost three games last week.

Jerome 46, Mountain Home 40

(OT)

A week after scoring just 12 points in a 36-12 loss at Jerome, Mountain Home played its best game of the season, giving the visiting Lady Tigers from Jerome fits before falling in overtime 46-40 last week in Lloyd Schiller Gymnasium in Mountain Home.

Neither team could hit anything early, with Jerome leading 3-0 with 3:30 left in the first quarter. That's when the home Lady Tigers caught fire and went on a 10-1 run to lead 10-4 after a quarter.

Mountain Home continued to lead in the second quarter --its biggest lead at 17-8 and 19-10, and took a 23-15 lead into the locker room at halftime. The Lady Tigers continued to lead in the third quarter, though the margin dipped to four points at one point.

They led 32-27 heading into the fourth with Whitney Sandberg hitting a free throw early in the fourth. But Jerome then went on a 9-0 run to go up 36-33 with 3:14 left.

Back came Mountain Home. Melissa Jessup scored with 1:20 left to cut it to one, 36-35, and Whitney Sandberg scored with 39 seconds left to put Mountain Home back on top, 37-36.

Jerome scored with 21 seconds left to regain the lead, 38-37. Melissa Jessup hit one of two free throws with 21.6 left to tie the game at 38-38 and Mountain Home had the ball for a final shot, but could not convert and the game went to overtime.

Jerome scored four points in the first minute of overtime while Mountain Home kept turning the ball over and lost, 46-40.

"That was by far our best effort of the season," said Lady Tigers' coach Brent Keener. "We knocked down some shots early, which gave us confidence, which was great. I was really pleased with that."

Melissa Jessup led Mountain Home in scoring with 15 points. Jacey Carr added nine points, Alexis Juarez had eight, Whitney Sandberg six and Taylor Reed two.

Skyview 49, Mountain Home 24

The Lady Tigers opened their conference schedule last Thursday night against Skyview, and lost to the defending 4A State champs 49-24.

The game went back and forth early, with Mountain Home grabbing its second lead of the game on a trey by Melissa Jessup that put the Lady Tigers up 6-4 with 4:19 left in the first quarter. Skyview finished the quarter on a 12-2 run to lead 16-8 after a quarter and 26-14 at halftime.

A 18-5 edge for Skyview in the third quarter pushed the Lady Hawk lead to 44-19 heading into the fourth, and a five-point spurt to start the fourth made the lead 30 at 49-19, starting the running clock the rest of the way.

Mountain Home scored the last five points to make it a 49-24 final.

"Their size gave us big fits, and with the injuries, that made it real tough," said Coach Keener after the game. "Taylor (Reed) went down, and once Missy (Jessup) went down, we were in real trouble. We have enough trouble handling the basketball right now without Mattie (Bennett), without Missy, it's real tough."

Claire Grindle, Whitney Sandberg and Missy Jessup each scored five points. Alexis Juarez added three, and Julia Burton, Ashten Harrigan and Elisabeth Ryan all scored two points.

Gooding 44, Mountain Home 30

Two-point quarters, obviously, are a coach's nightmare. Mountain Home had two, two-point quarters Friday night, as they lost to Gooding 44-30, at Gooding, in non-conference basketball.

Mountain Home started well, shooting out to a 15-7 first quarter lead. The Lady Tigers also finished decently, scoring 11 to Gooding's 14 in the fourth period, for a 26-21 edge in those quarters. But a 10-2 deficit in the second quarter left the game tied at 17-1, and a 13-2 edge for Gooding in the third gave the Lady Senators a commanding 30-19 lead heading into the fourth.

"We started out really well," said Coach Keener.

"We were up, 17-9, and Missy picked up her third foul, and it went downhill from there. She had 10 of our 17 points at that point. We had way too many turnovers, and couldn't find any offense. Missy played great and scored 17, but we didn't get much offense from anyone else."

Missy Jessup bounced back from her Thursday night injury to score a career high 17 points to lead Mountain Home. Whitney Sandberg netted five points, Taylor Reed also overcame her Thursday night injury to play and score four points. Alexis Juarez added two points and Julia Burton and Jacey Carr each scored one point to round out the scoring.

Mountain Home, winless in nine games, is off now until the Canyon Ridge Tourney in Twin Falls, which begins Dec. 29.