Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

The St. Joseph Lady Flyers may have been short on players, but they weren’t short on points.
With only six players on hand due to three players in quarantine, the Lady Flyers rolled past the Sciotoville East Lady Tartans 60-39 in a Southern Ohio Conference game on Monday.
Bella Whaley scorched the Lady Tartans with 29 points and 12 rebounds while Emma Whaley had 15 points.
The Lady Flyers (4-14, 4-7) came up with numerous steals and were strong on the boards as well with Gracie Damron grabbing 7 rebounds, Chloe Sheridan 6, Laiken “The Enforcer” Unger 4 and Emma Whaley had 2.
Mia Caldwell scored 13 points while Felicia Smith and Gracie Smith added 11 each for East (1-13, 1-10).
“With only six players we had to get creative in rotating them to keep them from getting tired. I have to find a way to give them a break because they play so hard,” said Lady Flyers’ coach Bart Burcham.
“We played well defensively and we passed the ball well on offense. We had a lot of good shots and didn’t finish. We need to close out on those shots moving forward.”
The Lady Flyers led 8-4 when Emma Whaley hit a 3-pointer. Unger had a steal that led to a layup by Emma Whaley and Damron’s putback to end the quarter made it 15-4.
St. Joseph was up 20-9 on a 10-footer by Emilee Blankenship at the 3:23 mark. She hit a 13-footer with 20 seconds led in the half to a 22-13 lead before Felcia Smith made a foul shot and it was 22-14 at the break.
Emma Whaley had two straight layups and then Bella Whaley and Emma Whaley hit back-to-back 19-footers as the Lady Flyers opened up a 30-14 lead.
Bella Whaley’s steal and layup opened up a 36-19 lead before East cut the deficit to 38-23. Sheridan’s basket from the baseline stopped the run but East got two more baskets to end the quarter and it was 40-27.
But Emma Whaley sank two foul shots, Bella Whaley had a layup and foul shots and layups by Damron and Bella Whaley pushed the lead to 49-29 with 4:55 left. Damon then had a putback as the lead was now 51-29 and virtually sealed the outcome.
St. Joseph hosts Western at 6 p.m. Tuesday and Green at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
Sciotoville 4 10 13 12 = 39
St. Joseph 15 7 18 20 = 60
SCIOTOVILLE EAST (1-13, 1-10): Peyton Johnson 1 0 0-0 2, Savannah Dingess 0 0 2-6 2, Kat Robinson 0 0 0-0 0, Felcia Smith 5 0 1-4 11, Gracie Smith 4 0 3-4 11, Mia Caldwell 1 3 2-4 13. Totals: 11 3 8-18 39. Fouls: 8. Fouled out: None.
ST. JOSEPH (4-14, 4-7): Emma Whaley 5 1 2-5 15, Laiken Unger 1 0 0-0 2, Emilee Blankenship 1 0 0-0 2, Bella Whaley 10 1 6-7 29, Chloe Sheridan 3 0 0-0 6, Gracie Damron 3 0 0-2 6. Totals: 23 2 8-14 60. Rebounds: 31 (B. Whaley 12, Damron 7, Sheridan 6, Unger 4, E. Whaley 2). Fouls: 13. Fouled out: None.