Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

COAL GROVE — If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. And if that doesn’t work, keep trying.

Missing shot after shot, the St. Joseph Female Flyers didn’t gets discouraged as they battled back to beat the Coal Grove Lady Hornets 54-46 in the Dr. Paulus Heart of Champions Classic on Saturday.

“Coal Grove had a nice game plan and we missed a lot of good-looking shots,” said St. Joseph coach Nick Miller.

“The girls kept battling. We rebounded and we started making shots in the fourth quarter that we’d been missing. We were able to overcome cold shooting and come back and win.”

Lynsey Booker did most of the damage for St. Joseph (8-0) with her inside scoring as she led the Female Flyers with 19 points to earn game MVP honors for her team.

Hannah Miller played most of the game in foul trouble and scored 15 points while Amber Neal added 11.

“We count on Amber and Hannah most of the time. They weren’t shooting well and I told Lynsey she had to step up and she did,” said coach Miller.

Jacy Jones was Coal Grove’s MVP with a game-high 23 points including three 3-pointers. Emily Compliment added 12 points for the Lady Hornets (5-3).

St. Joseph led 8-7 at the end of the first quarter. Booker had 7 points and Miller 4 in the second quarter to offset a pair of 3-pointers for Jones as the Female Flyers went up 23-19 at the break.

Jones — who scored 36 points last Monday — got hot and scored 11 points in the third quarter as Coal Grove rallied to take a 36-34 lead.

But Neal and Booker had 7 points each in the fourth quarter and the Female Flyers converted 6 of 8 free throws down the stretch to seal the win.

Jones and Compliment combined for all 10 Coal Grove points in the quarter.

Next Saturday, Coal Grove visits Wheelersburg. The Female Flyers visit New Boston on Monday.

St. Joseph 8 15 11 20 = 54

Coal Grove 7 12 17 10 = 46

ST. JOSEPH (8-0): Katie Roach 0 0 0-0 0, Amber Neal 3 0 5-6 11, Alyson Johnson 0 0 0-0 0, Ashlee Blankenship 0 0 0-0 0, Hannah Miller 5 1 2-2 15, Haley Bartram 0 1 0-0 3, Bri Bridges 3 0 0-1 6, Lynsey Booker 7 0 5-9 19. Totals: 18 2 12-18 54. Fouls: 9. Fouled out: None.

COAL GROVE (5-3): Jacy Jones 6 3 2-2 23, Sydney Conley 0 0 0-0 0, Kaylee Beals 2 0 0-0 4, Emily Compliment 5 0 2-5 12, Leah Crum 0 0 0-0 0, Leslie Mulkey 3 0 1-6 7, Kasey Murphy 0 0 0-0 0, Summer Willis 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 3 5-13 46. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: None.