SOUTH POINT - Playing defense may be the reason the South Point Lady Pointers are in a position to defend their Ohio Valley Conference title.

The Lady Pointers used a strong defensive effort to beat the Coal Grove Lady Hornets 51-20 Thursday and set up a showdown for first place in the OVC.

Coupled with Rock Hill's win over Fairland, South Point is now tied for first place in the league at 6-2. South Point plays at Fairland Saturday in a game for sole possession of the league lead.

"We really focused on defense. Our defense has picked up. We're doing things we weren't doing early in the year and we lost a lot of close games," Lady Pointers coach Dave Adams said.

"We just have to go out and play again. It's always tough playing up (at Fairland)."

Alisha Bridges had 12 points, eight rebounds and five assists for South Point (7-10). Jessi Craft had 10 points and four assists while Amy Frasure scored 10 points and Latisha Koukos had seven rebounds.

Chelsea Markins scored 11 points and Holli Swarts eight for Coal Grove (9-8, 1-6).

Craft and Koukos scored four points each in the first quarter to put South Point up 9-4.

Bridges got six points in the second quarter and the defense held Coal Grove to just two points and it was 19-6 at the half.

Frasure had seven points and Bridges five in the third quarter as the Lady Pointers built a 38-9 cushion.

The Lady Pointers' Sarah Lee got all six of her points to lead the reserves in the fourth quarter. Markins had six points and Swarts hit a 3-pointer as Coal Grove scored 11 points.

"We started out playing well defensively, but we missed some easy shots and got frustrated," Lady Hornets coach Nick Miller said. "And you can't let up against South Point. They're a good team.

"The thing that is really disheartening is how well we played Monday and then to follow up one of our best efforts with our worst. We have to play better or we won't win another game. We can't be satisfied with what we've accomplished."

Coal Grove42311-20

South Point9101913-51

COAL GROVE (9-8, 1-6):

Holli Swarts 2 1 1-3 8, Shana Klaiber 0 0 0-1 0, Maggie Young 0 0 1-2 1, Chelsea Markins 5 0 1-2 11, Samantha Hall 0 0 0-2 0, Jill Lovejoy 0 0 0-0 0, Tracy Tackett 0 0 0-0 0, Samantha Zornes 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 7

1

3-10

20. Fouls: 9. Fouled out: None.

SOUTH POINT (7-10, 6-2):

Sarah Lee 2 0 2-2 6, Alisha Bridges 2 2 2-4 12, Jessi Craft 5 0 0-0 10, Latisha Koukos 3 0 0-2 6, Whitney Woody 2 0 0-3 4, Summer Malone 1 0 1-2 3, Amy Frasure 2 2 0-0 10, Alison Queen 0 0 0-0 0, Sara Vickers 0 0 0-0 0, Jamie Moore 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17

4

5-13

51. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: Bridges 8, Koukos 7. Assists: Bridges 5, Craft 4.