WILLOW WOOD — Half as good was better than the Fairview Lady Eagles.

The Symmes Valley Lady Vikings used a strong first half to beat Fairview 39-26 Monday in a non-league game.

“We played well for one half of tonight,” Lady Vikings coach Lisa Bryant said. “In the first half, we were patient on offense and mixed up our defenses.

“But we were not attacking the defensive boards with only defensive rebounds in the first half. We had more offensive rebounds than defensive. Our kids were not boxing out.”

Emily Bowling scored 9 points in the first quarter as Symmes Valley took a 14-8 lead. Tiffany Bryant had 9 points in the second quarter as the lead grew to 27-13.

But in the second half, Symmes Valley had 11 of its 15 turnovers causing the offense to struggle and score only 12 points.

“In the second half we were not aggressive on the offensive end and forced too many passes inside,” coach Bryant said. “We did a pretty good job defensively all night and picked up 15 steals.”

Tiffany Bryant led the Lady Vikings (9-5) with 19 points and 6 rebounds. Bowling had 15 points and 6 steals.

Brittany Mills had 11 points for Fairview (1-13).

The Lady Vikings now embark on two key Southern Ohio Conference games this week. On Thursday, they host Portsmouth Clay and on Saturday Western. Both teams are tied with New Boston for first place while the Lady Vikings are in second place at 6-4.

“If we don’t come ready to play, we could be in for some long nights,” coach Bryant said.

Fairview85211=26

Symmes Valley141384=39

FAIRVIEW (1-13): Sierra Manier 0 0 0-0 0, Brandy Mills 2 1 0-0 7, Brittany Mills 2 0 7-8 11, Holli Adkins 1 0 2-2 4, Billie Barber 0 0 0-0 0, K. Bridges 0 0 1-2 1, H. Daniels 0 0 0-0 0, L. Reliford 1 0 1-3 3. Totals: 6 1 11-15 26. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: None.

SYMMES VALLEY (9-5): Tiffany Bryant 8 0 3-5 19, Haily Pelletier 0 0 0-0 0, Emily Bowling 6 1 0-1 15, Chelsea Wall 0 0 0-0 0, Kayla Saunders 1 0 0-2 2, Jennie Wilson 0 0 0-0 0, Natasha Pointer 0 0 1-5 1, Erica Corn 0 0 0-0 0, Sarah Ashworth 0 0 0-0 0, Libby Ash 1 0 0-0 2. Totals: 17-49 (1) 4-13

39. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 22. (Bryant 6, Pelletier 4, Pointer 4). Assists: 8. Steals: 15 (Bowling 6). Turnovers: 15.