Forget the high gas prices. The St. Joseph Female Flyers would have gladly paid the price for a fill-up Thursday night.

Trailing by just two points late in the third quarter, the Female Flyers was the Green lady Bobcats speed their way to a strong finish and a 54-29 win in the Division IV sectional finals.

“The girls played hard and gave it all they had, they just ran out of gas and there was no gas station at halfcourt to pick us up,” said Female Flyers’ assistant coach Dan Harmon who was filling in for the absent B.J. Hannon.

Green coach Dale Royse was pleased with the defense, but lamented the offensive’s performance.

“We were really sluggish to start and passive on offense. Defensively we had some steals but we didn’t convert,” said Royse.

Green led 7-5 after the first quarter and 17-14 at the half as Ashlee Runyon and Hannah Collett hit 3-pointers in the second quarter. Sarah Basedow had five points to keep St. Joseph close.

Michelle Staton and Basedow combined for six points in the third quarter to get the Female Flyers within 24-22.

But Green went on a 7-0 run to end the quarter and take a 31-22 lead. Lauren Jones had 10 of the Lady Bobcats’ 14 points in the quarter.

Adrianne Blankenship then scored eight of her points in the fourth quarter while Jones was 5-of-6 from the line as Green went 11-of-13 in the final quarter.

“We started moving the ball more and we were more aggressive with the ball,” said Royse. “Lauren played a really good game.”

Jones led Green with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Blankenship had 14 points, seven rebounds and 11 steals while Runyon had 11 points and three assists.

Basedow led the Female Flyers with 11 points and Staton had 10 points and six rebounds. Katie Hacker grabbed eight rebounds for St. Joseph.

Green (13-8) plays at 8 p.m. next Thursday at Jackson in the district semifinals.

St. Joseph 5 9 8 7 = 29

Green 7 10 14 23 = 54

ST. JOSEPH (7-13): Michelle Staton 4 0 2-4 10, Sarah Basedow 2 2 1-1 11, Katie Hacker 2 0 0-2 4, Allison Stump 1 0 0-0 2, Katie Schwab 1 0 0-0 2, Katie Compston 0 0 0-0 0, Kacie Rucker 0 0 0-0 0, Sarah Neal 0 0 0-0 0, Megan Fields 0 0 0-0 0, Chelsea Blackburn 0 0 0-0 0, Ivanna Setnicka 0 0 0-0 0, Teresa Kaiser 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 10 2 3-7 29. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: Schwab. Rebounds: 19 (Hacker 8, Staton 6).

GREEN (13-8): Ashlee Runyon 2 2 1-2 11, Adrianne Blankenship 5 0 4-4 14, Lauren Jones 5 0 6-7 16, Abbey Barrett 2 0 0-0 4, Gidget Timberman 1 0 0-0 2, Hannah Collett 2 1 0-0 7, Breanna Johnson 0 0 0-0 0, Sami Crisp 0 0 0-0 0, Sam Norwood 0 0 0-0 0, Liz Hall 0 0 0-0 0, Hannah Lemaster 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 20-60 11-13 54. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: None. 3-point goals: 3-19. Rebounds: 22 (Jones 11, Blankenship 7). Assists: 11 (Runyon 3, Barrett 3). Steals: 21 (Blankenship 11, Timberman 6). Turnovers: 15.