Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

It might have been the finals of the St. Joseph Holiday Tournament, but it was more of a learning experience for the St. Joseph Lady Flyers.
The Belpre Lady Eagles used some clutch shooting and strong rebounding to beat the Lady Flyers 48-36 in the tournament finals on Saturday.
Belpre out-rebounded St. Joseph 40-26 and hit 37 percent of their shots to 24 percent for the Lady Flyers.
“Belpre had a good team. They were big, strong and physical. But that was good for us. We need to play teams like that to make us better,” said Lady Flyers’ coach Bart Burcham.
“I’m just so proud of how hard my girls played. We had some open looks and the shots just didn’t fall, but we kept playing defense and we battled them on the boards.”
Bella Whaley led the Lady Flyers with a game-high 18 points and also grabbed 8 rebounds. Faith Mahlmeister had 8 points and 8 rebounds while Emma Whaley had 7 points and 4 steals.
Kiki Ray had 13 points, Kaitlin Bush had 9 points and 6 rebounds while Hailee Williams grabbed 12 rebounds and Curstin Griffin 10 boards to lead Belpre (7-2).
Belpre took a 7-0 lead to start the game before the Lady Flyers got within 9-7 on a free throw by Emma Whaley at the 1:31 mark of the first quarter.
Bush made a layup and hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Belpre a 16-7 lead.
Kyna Waderker made two foul shots and a layup to begin the second quarter and the Lady Eagles were up 20-9.
But Bella Whaley had 6 points and Mahlmeister a putback as the Lady Flyers scored 8 unanswered points to trail 20-15 with 3:43 left in the half.
Ray’s trey put Belpre up 26-15 only to have Mahlmeister sink two foul shots and she and Bella Whaley make layups to get within 26-21.
Williams made a layup just before the half and the Lady Eagles were up 28-21 at the break.
Two fouls shots and a 3-point play by Bella Whaley made it a 36-28 game with 1:06 left in the third quarter but Ray followed up her own shot and it was 38-28.
The Lady Flyers made just 2-of-8 field goal attempts in the fourth quarter and Belpre took advantage to go up 48-30 on a layup by Bush midway through the quarter.
St. Joseph plays at Symmes Valley on Thursday.
Belpre 16 12 10 10 = 48
St. Joseph 7 14 7 8 = 36
BELPRE (7-2): Hailee Williams 3 0 1-1 7, Kyna Waderker 4 0 2-2 10, Curstin Griffin 2 0 0-0 4, Kiki Ray 1 3 2-2 13, Abbey LaFatch 1 1 0-2 5, Kaitlin Bush 3 1 0-0 9, Emma Hogdson 0 0 0-0 0, Amber Amick 0 0 0-0 0, Bella Padovini 0 0 0-0 0, Jaylyn Wright 0 0 0-0 0, Michaela Miller 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 19-51 5-7 48. 3-pt goals: 5-15. Rebounds: 12-O, 28-D = 40 (Williams 12, Griffin 10, Bush 6). Team rebounds: 4. Assists: 6. Steals: 4 (LaFatch 2). Turnovers: 17. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: None.
ST. JOSEPH (5-5): Kaitlyn Sheridan 1 0 1-3 3, Faith Mahlmeister 3 0 2-3 8, Emma Whaley 1 0 5-6 7, Bella Whaley 5 1 5-5 18, Aubrey Sutton 0 0 0-0 0, Chloe Sheridan 0 0 0-0 0, Gracie Damron 0 0 0-0 0, Kerri Jenkins 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 11-45 13-17 36. 3-pt goals: 1-8. Rebounds: 7-O, 19-D = 26 (Mahlmeister 8, B. Whaley 8). Team rebounds: 1. Assists: 5 (K. Sheridan 2, B. Whaley 2). Steals: 7 (E. Whaley 4, Mahlmeister 2). Turnovers: 11. Fouls: 8. Fouled out: None.