ALBANY - The Green Lady Bobcats must have a knack for timing.

The Lady Bobcats picked the right time to play their best defensive game of the season as they got past the Symmes Valley Lady Vikings 45-38 Saturday to win the Division IV sectional championship.

"We played excellence defense. That was our best defensive game. Symmes Valley is such a good shooting team, we had to step up and play good defense," Green coach Melissa Knapp said.

Elista Hall had 15 points and Leigh Ann Williams added 10 as Green (13-8) advanced to the district tournament against Leesburg Fairfield at 8 p.m. Thursday at Wellston.

Leslie Floyd turned in a strong game with 14 points for the Lady Vikings who finished 14-6.

Hall had 5 points in the first quarter to offset 4 points by Floyd as Green took a 13-10 lead.

Kayla Saunders got all 6 of her points in the second quarter as the Lady Vikings cut the deficit to 21-20. Williams scored 6 for Green.

But in the second half, Green's defense held Symmes Valley to 5 points until three minutes remained.

Floyd scored 8 points in the fourth quarter as Symmes Valley cut the lead to 4 points, but Green converted 7 of 15 foul shots including Jessica Dyer who went 4 for 4.

"They made a little run at the end that frightened me, but Dyer hit the foul shots when we needed them. She played a great game defensively. She was a big reason we won," Knapp said.

Green138159-45

Sym. Valley1010414-38

GREEN (13-8):

Jessica Dyer 1 0 4-4 6, Traci Elrod 0 0 0-3 0, Elista Hall 4 0 7-9 15, Kortney Pfleger 4 0 1-3 9, Britnee Fuller 1 0 0-0 2, Heidi Tackett 1 0 1-4 3, Leigh Ann Williams 4 0 2-9 10, Tara Skaggs 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15

(0)

15-32

45. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: None.

SYMMES VALLEY (14-6):

Rebecca Capper 1 0 1-2 3, Kayla Saunders 2 0 2-4 6, Megan Coomes 3 0 1-3 7, Leslie Floyd 6 0 2-3 14, Ashley Wilson 1 0 0-0 2, Emily Bowling 1 0 2-3 4, Brigette Thompson 1 0 0-0 2, Brittany Wilson 0 0 0-0 0, Tiffany Bryant 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15

(0)

8-15

38. Fouls: 25. Fouled out: Capper, Bryant.