By JIM WALKER

Tribune Sports Editor

The defense jump started the offense.

The St. Joseph Female Flyers turned to their defense to light a spark as they beat Covenant (W.Va.) 53-18 Monday in a makeup game.

“We started fast and then slowed down, but we picked it up with our defense until the offense got going again,” said Female Flyers’ coach Nick Miller.

“We missed a lot of shots, but we did a pretty good job hitting shots in the second half.”

Katie Hacker scored eight points in the first quarter as St. Joseph raced to a 10-2 lead and led 12-6 at the end of the quarter.

The defense held Covenant to two points in the second quarter and pulled away to a 21-8 halftime lead.

The Female Flyers continued to build on their lead in the third quarter as they went up 33-12.

Molly Miller had 10 of her points in the fourth quarter as St. Joseph cruised to the win.

Hacker had 19 points to lead the Female Flyers (4-2) while Sarah Neal and Miller scored 14 each.

St. Joseph will visit Covenant at 6 p.m. Thursday in a regularly scheduled game.

Covenant 6 2 4 6 = 18

St. Joseph 12 9 12 20 = 53

COVENANT: J. Wehmier 3 0 0-2 6, K. Wehmier 0 0 0-0 0, S. Rice 1 0 0-0 2, D. Taylor 3 0 0-0 6, R. Finley 0 0 0-0 0, B. Estep 2 0 0-0 4, M. Canto-Strit 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 9 0 0-2 18. Fouls: 10. Fouled out: None.

SAINT JOSEPH (4-2): Haley Glockner 0 0 0-0 0, Sarah Goebel 1 0 0-0 2, Katie Hacker 8 0 3-4 19, Molly Miller 7 0 0-0 14, Sarah Neal 7 0 0-0 14, Becca Patrick 2 0 0-6 4, Glennie Hopkins 0 0 0-0 0, Katie Compston 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 25 0 3-10 53. Fouls: 7. Fouled out: None.