ATHENS — Just when things started to look up for the St. Joseph Female Flyers, Murphy’s Law was enacted.

First, the Female Flyers battle back to take a lead and were tied at halftime. But then came turnovers and injuries in the second half as St. Joseph lost 42-21 to the Reedsville Eastern Lady Eagles Thursday in the Division IV sectional championship.

The Female Flyers were guilty of 26 second-half turnovers and point guard Danielle Blair was lost for part of the half when she aggravated a knee injury.

The flurry of turnovers limited the number of shots the Female Flyers attempted in the second half.

“Their pressure got to us,” said Female Flyers coach B.J. Hannon. “We turned the ball over too many times. You can’t score if you can’t get off a shot.”

Another setback came when Katie Hacker, the Female Flyers aggressive sophomore rebounder, caught an elbow to the head and had to sit out the last 3:27 of the third quarter and part of the fourth quarter.

Eastern opened the game with six straight points before a layup by Charleigh Haas at the 3:25 mark got St. Joseph started.

Down 10-3, Haas scored two straight baskets and it was 10-7. Allie Rawson and Morgan Werry hit shots from close range as Eastern took a 14-7 lead at the end of the quarter.

St. Joseph went to work as the second quarter got underway.

Michelle Staton converted a 3-point play, Haas got a layup off a nice pass from Blair, Hacker followed up a missed shot and Blair fed Haas again for a layup and St. Joseph led 16-14 with 1:46 left in the half.

A 10-footer by Eastern’s Kaylee Milam with 22 seconds on the clock tied the game.

Werry picked up a loose ball off the floor and scored with a baseline shot and Hayman made two foul shots as Eastern took the lead for good at 20-16.

That’s when Murphy’s Law kicked in.

Blair was hurt at the 5:22 mark and went to the bench. A total of 15 turnovers ensued with Hacker suffering her injury and having to sit out.

By the end of the quarter the Eastern lead was 29-18.

The Lady Eagles led 36-18 before Haas made a layup with 3:25 left for only the second basket of the half for the Female Flyers.

Katie Schwab had the other basket with 2:04 on the third quarter clock.

Haas finished with 12 points and six rebounds. Staton had nine rebounds, Hacker seven and Blair six as St. Joseph held a 30-18 rebound advantage.

St. Joseph ends the season 6-15.

Hayman scored 17 for Eastern.

Reedsville1421313=42

St. Joseph7923=21

REEDSVILLE EASTERN (6-14): Katie Hayman 6 0 5-8 17, Kaylee Milam 2 0 1-3 5, Morgan Werry 3 0 0-0 6, Ermeri Connery 1 0 2-2 4, Allie Rawson 2 0 2-4 6, Audrianna Pullins 0 0 0-2 0, Karissa Connolly 1 0 0-0 2, Amanda Durham 1 0 0-0 2. Totals: 15-51 9-19 42. 3-point goals: 0-9. Fouls: 9. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 12-6=18 (Hayman 7, Rawson 4). Team rebounds: 4. Assists: 7 (Connery 2, Rawson 2). Steals: 27 (Hayman 13,Connery 7). Turnovers: 17.

ST. JOSEPH (6-15): Michelle Staton 1 0 1-1 3, Katie Schwab 1 0 2-4 4, Katie Hacker 1 0 0-0 2, Charleigh Haas 6 0 0-2 12, Danielle Blair 0 0 00 0, Sara Basedow 0 0 0-0 0, Sara Burcham 0 0 0-0 0, Sunni Clyse 0 0 0-0 0, Alison Stump 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 9-29 3-7 21. 3-point goals: 0-5. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 10-20=30 (Staton 9, Hacker 7, Haas 6, Blair 6). Team rebounds: 6. Assists: 7 (Blair 3, Staton 2). Steals: 4 (Haas 2, Staton 2). Turnovers: 44.