Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

This was a game of defense.

In a real grinder, the Green Lady Bobcats got past the St. Joseph Lady Flyers 26-20 in a Southern Ohio Conference game on Monday.

“We couldn’t have played any better on defense. We played our guts out. You hold a team to 26 teams, you usually win,” said Lady Flyers’ coach Bart Burcham.

“But you have to give Green credit. They played good defense, too. We had a lot of shots that went in and out and we missed a bunch of layups, but they had something to do with that.”

Bella Whaley hit a trifecta and had 4 points while Laiken Unger added a basket to offset a 3-pointer by Green’s Anna Knapp and the game was tied at 6-6 in the first quarter.

Kimbler scored all 7 of Green’s points in the second quarter including a 3-pointer while St. Joseph could only manage a basket by Addie Philabaun as the Lady Bobcats took a 13-8 lead at the break.

St. Joseph (2-4, 2-3) managed to slice the deficit to 18-16 in the third quarter as Gracie Damron and Unger had 4 points each.

Kaylee Christian and Kimbler each had a basket and Knapp a free throw to account for all of Green’s scoring in the quarter.

Kimbler knocked down a 3-pointer and scored 6 points with Knapp adding a basket in the fourth quarter as the Lady Flyers got two baskets from Whaley but went 0-for-4 at the foul line.

Kimbler finished with a game-high 16 points for Green (2-4, 2-2) and Knapp added 6.

Whaley scored 8 points and pulled down 12 rebounds for the Lady Flyers with Unger netting 6 points and Damron getting 4 points and 9 rebounds.

Whaley’s rebound total gives her 710 for her career.

St. Joseph visits New Boston on Wednesday and Green travels to Portsmouth Notre Dame on Thursday.

Green              6          7          5          8          =          26

St. Joseph        6          2          8          4          =          20

GREEN (2-4, 2-2): Anna Knapp 1 1 1-2 6, Kasey Kimbler 4 2 2-5 16, Kaylee Christian 1 0 2-2 4, Emily Brady 0 0 0-0 0, Mylee Brown 0 0 0-0 0, Mylee Hunt 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 6 3 5-9 26. Fouls: 5. Fouled out: None.

1. JOSEPH (2-4, 2-3): Gracie Damron 2 0 0-2 4, Addie Philabaun 1 0 0-0 2, Laiken Unger 3 0 0-0 6, Emily Litton 0 0 0-0 0, Bella Whaley 2 1 1-2 8, Ava Weber 0 0 0-0 0, McKenzie Wilds 0 0 0-0 0, Mia Weber 0 0 0-2 0. Totals: 8 1 1-6 20. Rebounds: 29 (Whaley 12, Damron 9, Unger 4, Litton 3, M. Weber 1). Fouls: 9. Fouled out: None.