Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

The St. Joseph Lady Flyers were playing basketball on a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean when they threw the ball overboard and toward the ocean waters.
It missed the ocean.
That’s the way if felt Thursday night as the Lady Flyers suffered a dismal shooting performance in a 53-24 loss to the St. Patrick Lady Saints.
St. Joseph was 8-of-48 for the game form the field. That’s right. They were 16 percent. But even worse was the 2-for-26 shooting in the second half.
While the Lady Flyers were checking to find out who welded lids on their basket, the Lady Saints were enjoying their best shooting night of the season.
St. Patrick was 19-of-42 from the field including 9-of-19 from behind the arc. St. Joseph was 1-of-17 from the 3-point line.
“We’ve never shot like that. It’s hard to explain,” said Lady Flyers’ coach Bart Burcham. “(St. Patrick) shot really well but we were partly to blame. We knew they had two good shooters and we didn’t rotate back and kept leaving them open.”
Caroline McKay hit five 3-pointers and scored 18 points while Libby Gallenstein made four triples and scored 13 points for the Lady Saints (3-1).
Allie Hughes added 10 points and 11 rebounds to the winning effort.
St. Joseph (2-3) was paced by Faith Mahlmeister who had 11 points and two steals. Bella Whaley had eight rebounds while Emma Whaley had five points, two assists and two steals.
St. Joseph was down just 11-9 in the first quarter on a putback by Laiken Unger only to have McKay hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer and it was 14-9.
Two foul shots by Mahlmeister started the second quarter and it was 14-11. But that was the closest the Lady Flyers would get the rest of the game as McKay hit another trey.
Unger made a 15-footer with 14 seconds left in the half and the Lady Flyers were down 29-19. Hughes hit a baseline shot with two seconds on the clock and it was 31-19 at the half.
The Lady Flyers got a layup by Mahlmeister with six minutes left in the third quarter to make it 36-21, but they didn’t score again until Emilee Blankenship’s layup with 6:23 to play and the Lady Saints led 47-24.
The Lady Flyers visit Ohio Valley Christian at 6 p.m. on Friday.
St. Patrick 14 17 13 9 = 53
St. Joseph 9 10 3 2 = 24
ST. PATRICK (3-1): Libby Gallenstein 0 4 1-2 13, Liz McKay 1 0 1-2 3, Justina Klee 3 0 1-1 17, Caroline McKay 1 5 1-2 18, Allie Hughes 4 0 2-3 10, Izzy Rigg 0 0 0-0 0, Chloe Faust 0 0 0-0 0, Mya Rogers 1 0 0-0 2. Totals: 19-42 6-10 53. 3-pt goals: 9-19. Rebounds: 11-f, 26-D= 37 (Hughes 11, Klee 6). Team/deadball rebounds: 5. Assists: 4 (Gallenstein 2). Steals: 10 (Hughes 3, Rigg 2, C. McKay 2). Turnovers: 14. Fouls: 10. Fouled out: None.
ST. JOSEPH (2-3): Kaitlyn Sheridan 0 0 0-0 0, Emma Whaley 1 1 0-2 5, Faith Mahlmeister 3 0 5-6 11, Emilee Blankenship 1 0 2-2 4, Bella Whaley 0 0 0-0 0, Laiken Unger 2 0 0-0 4, Kerri Jenkins 0 0 0-0 0, Lydia Sheridan 0 0 0-0 0, Chloe Sheridan 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 8-48 7-10 24. 3-pt goals: 1-17. Rebounds: 15-O, 15-D = 30 (B. Whaley 8, C. Sheridan 4). Team/deadball rebounds: 5. Assists: 5 (E. Whaley 2). Steals: 6 (Mahlmeister 2, E. Whaley 2). Turnovers: 11. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: None.