Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

ROCKSPRINGS — The tournament road hit a major road block.
Playing traditional Division IV power Waterford, the St. Joseph Lady Flyers lost to the Lady Wildcats 43-16 in the sectional finals on Saturday.
The Lady Flyers struggled with turnovers at times against the Waterford press and couldn’t get their shots to drop when they did get open.
“We had two spurts where we got a little rattled. We got caught up in playing faster than we wanted and we didn’t have patience on offense,” said Lady Flyers’ coach Bart Burcham.
“They played hard the whole game. We played pretty good defense, but they really play defense.”
Despite the loss, the Lady Flyers finished 12-12 and Burcham praised his young and inexperienced team that will see all nine players returning.
“I can’t say enough about these girls. From day one until today, they improved so much. I really enjoyed this season. This is great bunch of girls,” said Burcham.
Emma Whaley scored eight points, Bella Whaley had six points and Faith Mahlmeister the other basket to account for all the St. Joseph scoring.
Mackenzie Suprano came off the bench to score 13 points and lead Waterford (18-4), ranked 8th in the final Associated Press poll.
Cara Taylor added 10 points. Both are freshmen.
St. Joseph was down 7-3 early before Waterford scored six straight points at the end of the first quarter to lead 13-3.
St. Joseph cut the deficit to 13-6 on a 3-pointer by Bella Whaley only to have Waterford go on a late 11-0 run to close the half and it was 24-6.
The Lady Wildcats began the second half by scoring seven straight points before Faith Mahlmeister’s layup gave the Lady Flyers their first points of the half and it was 31-8.
Emma Whaley sank two foul shots before the end of the quarter and it was 40-10.
Bella Whaley’s basket and two free throws by Emma Whaley made it 42-16 A foul shot by Emily Kern of Waterford set the final score.
Waterford will play Manchester at noon Saturday in the district semifinals at Jackson.
St. Joseph 3 3 4 6 = 16
Waterford 13 11 16 3 = 43
ST. JOSEPH (12-12): Kaitlyn Sheridan 0 0 0-0 0, Faith Mahlmeister 1 0 0-0 2, Emilee Blankenship 0 0 0-2 0, Emma Whaley 2 0 4-5 8, Bella Whaley 1 1 1-2 6, Chloe Sheridan 0 0 0-0 0, Laiken Unger 0 0 0-0 0, Lydia Sheridan 0 0 0-0 0, Kerri Jenkins 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 4 1 5-9 16. Rebounds: 25 (Mahlmeister 8, B. Whaley 5, Unger 4, E. Whaley 3, Blankenship 3, C. Sheridan 1, K. Sheridan 1). Fouls: 8. Fouled out: None.
WATERFORD (18-4): Cara Taylor 4 0 2-4 10, Emily Kern 2 0 1-2 5, MacKenzie Suprano 5 1 0-0 13, Brier Offenberger 0 0 0-0 0, Sydney Huffman 3 0 0-2 6, Rachel Adams 0 2 0-0 6, Lilly Franchino 0 0 0-0 0, Briana Offenberger 0 0 0-0 0, Lily Roberts 0 0 0-0 0, Maggie Huffman 0 0 0-0 0, Riley Schweikert 1 0 1-1 3. Totals: 15 3 4-9 43. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: None.