Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

WILLOW WOOD — Instead of playing stop and start, the Symmes Valley Lady Vikings played start and stop and start.
In an up and down performance, the Lady Vikings got started at the right time as they beat the St. Joseph Lady Flyers 54-38 in a Southern Ohio Conference game on Saturday morning.
“We got off to a pretty good start. We struggled in the third quarter and then we had a good fourth quarter,” said Lady Vikings’ coach Shannon Pierce. “But St. Joe played well. We had them down a couple of times and they kept battling back.”
Desiree Simpson had 18 points to go with 12 rebounds and 4 steals to lead the Lady Vikings (10-6, 9-2).
Kelsi Gothard had a big game for Symmes Valley as she knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and scored 12 points to pick up the scoring void due to the absence of Kylee Thompson who is out for two weeks. Jenna Malone had 7 assists and Morgan Lyons came up with 4 steals.
St. Joseph (3-14, 3-7) was paced by Bella Whaley with 16 points and xx rebounds. Emma Whaley added 10 points.
Bella Whaley also had 10 rebounds with Laiken “The Enforcer” Unger grabbing 6 while Emilee Blankenship, Gracie Damron and Emma Whaley had 5 each.
“We got down right at the start of the game by 16 or 20 and cut it to five,” said Lady Flyers’ coach Bart Burcham.
“The girls played really hard in the second half but they just have a lot of girls who can score. Their two freshmen (Simpson and Lyons) are really good players.”
Symmes Valley went on a 10-0 run to start the game and took a 12-6 first quarter lead as Malone and Lyons hit 3-pointers. Bella Whaley hit a 3-pointer and had all 6 of the Lady Flyers’ points.
The Lady Vikings extended the lead to 32-19 at the half as Gothard hit a pair of 3-pointers and scored 7 points. Bella Whaley had two trifectas and scored 8 points while Emma Whaley hit a trey and scored 5 points.
St. Joseph staged a comeback in the third quarter and cut the deficit to 5 points as Emma Whaley scored 5 points while Damron, Blankenship and Bella Whaley had 2 points each and it was 39-30.
But Simpson took over in the fourth quarter and scored 12 of the Lady Vikings’ 15 points. St. Joseph got 4 points from Unger that included 2-for-2 at the foul line.
St. Joseph 6 13 11 8 = 38
Sym. Valley 12 20 7 15 = 54
ST. JOSEPH (3-14, 3-7): Riley Daniels 0 0 0-0 0, Gracie Damron 1 0 0-4 2, Emma Whaley 3 1 1-2 10, Laiken Unger 1 0 2-2 4, Emilee Blankenship 2 0 0-0 4, Bella Whaley 2 3 3-3 16, Addi Philabaun 0 0 0-0 0, Ava Weber 0 0 0-0 0, Chloe Sheridan 0 0 2-2 2. Totals: 9 4 8-13 38. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: None.
SYMMES VALLEY (10-6, 9-2): Jenna Malone 1 1 1-1 6, Morgan Lyons 2 1 0-0 7, Jordan Ellison 2 0 0-1 4, Desiree Simpson 8 0 2-3 18, Enola Cade 0 0 0-0 0, Hailee Gordon 0 0 0-0 0, Kelsi Gothard 2 2 2-4 12, Alison Klaiber 0 0 0-0 0, Spring Ross 2 0 3-4 7. Totals: 17 4 8-13 54. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: None.