Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

If that was decent, imagine what good will be like?
Coal Grove Lady Hornets’ coach Rick Roach called his team’s defensive effort “decent” after posting a 44-18 season-opening win over the St. Joseph Female Flyers on Monday.
The Lady Hornets held the Female Flyers to just 7-of-36 shooting for 19.4 percent.
“Defensively, we looked decent in the first half, but we got a little sloppy in the second half,” said Roach. “We were able to draw some fouls in the first quarter and made all eight of our free throws.”
Emily Compliment had 18 points to lead the Lady Hornets. Destiny Dolen added 11 points and Bailey McKnight had 8.
“McKnight and Dolen got in early foul trouble but they were still able to score 11 and 8. (Lauren) Crum has been nursing a sprained ankle and played sparingly. When she was in, our rebounding and passing were much better. It was a good all-around team effort,” said Roach.
Ashley Bartram had 8 points for the Female Flyers. Kaitlin Sheridan had six rebounds and three steals while Alyson Johnson grabbed five rebounds.
“We turned the ball over too much, we didn’t hit shots and we didn’t rebound,” said St. Joseph coach Nick Miller of his team’s 27 turnovers.
Coal Grove took a 10-5 first quarter lead by converting all eight foul shots.
Dolen had 6 points including 4-of-4 at the line. Morgan Turner hit a trifecta for St. Joseph.
But St. Joseph managed just one point in the second quarter and missed all 10 field goal attempts as Coal Grove got 9 points from Compliment and took a 29-6 halftime lead.
Coal Grove hosts Rose Hill on Thursday. St. Joseph plays in a tournament at St. Patrick’s in Maysville, Ky., on Friday and Saturday.
Coal Grove    10    19    9    6    =    44
St. Joseph    5    1    6    6    =    18
COAL GROVE (1-0): Bailey McKnight 3 0 2-4 8, Emily Compliment 6 1 3-4 18, Kasey Murphy 0 0 0-2 0, Destiny Dolen 3 0 5-5 11, Emileigh Bryant 0 0 0-0 0, Lauren Crum 1 0 1-1 3, Halie Frazier 0 0 0-0 0, Kylie Deer 1 0 2-4 4, Lauren Holliday 0 0 0-0 0, Jaida Smith 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15-57 13-20 44. Fouls: 9. Fouled out: None.
ST. JOSEPH (0-1): Kaitlyn Sheridan 1 0 1-2 3, Morgan Turner 0 1 0-0 3, Alyson Johnson 1 0 1-1 3, Ashlee Blankenship 0 0 0-0 0, Megan Riley 0 0 1-2 1, Ashley Bartram 4 0 0-0 8, Faith Mahlmeister 0 0 0-0 0, Grace Miller 0 0 0-0 0, Lauren Bush 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 7-36 3-5 18. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 20 (Sheridan 6, Johnson 5). Assists: 3 (Miller 2). Steals: 9 (Sheridan 3, Turner 2). Turnovers: 27.