By JIM WALKER

Tribune Sports Editor

CHESAPEAKE — The Chesapeake Lady Panthers got on a roll that helped them stay on a roll.

After a sluggish start, the Lady Panthers got rolling as they beat the Symmes Valley Lady Vikings 55-37 Thursday for their fifth straight win.

“We started a little slow and then we picked it up and played pretty well,” said Chesapeake coach Chris Ball. “But in the second half we didn’t have any flow and we didn’t seem to be playing with any purpose.”

Amanda Ruffner led Chesapeake with 23 points, 10 rebounds and five blocked shots. Sarah Mayo added nine points and Mackenzie Moore also grabbed 10 rebounds.

Jessie Morris had a game-high 24 points for Symmes Valley. She also had 10 rebounds and four steals. Kayla Hayes added 10 points, 13 rebounds and four assists.

“Morris is very athletic. She runs the team and runs the point well. Symmes Valley hustled as well as anyone we’ve played,” said Ball.

Ruffner scored nine points in the first quarter as Chesapeake took a 15-9 lead.

Mayo got seven or her points in the second quarter as the Lady Panthers held the Lady Vikings to three points and built a 33-12 cushion.

“We seem to have a phantom quarter where we totally lose our way for eight minutes and then we play pretty well the rest of the game,” said Lady Vikings’ coach Lisa Bryant of 3-point quarter.

“The problem with that is you can’t get behind 21 points with a team like Chesapeake because it is really hard to cut into a lead no matter how hard your team fights and claws the rest of the game.”

Morris had all 12 of Symmes Valley’s points in the third quarter and it was 40-24. But the deficit was too much for the Lady Vikings to overcome.

Symmes Valley 9 3 12 13 = 37

Chesapeake 15 18 7 15 = 55

SYMMES VALLEY (3-4): Hannah Maynard 0 0 0-2 0, Jessie Morris 11 0 2-4 24, Kayla Hayes 2 0 6-8 10, Kalli Hunt 0 0 1-2 1, Ada Humphrey 0 0 2-4 2, Melanna Davis 0 0 0-0 0, Megan Johnson 0 0 0-0 0, Taylor Michael 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13-52 11-20 37. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 35 (Hayes 13, Morris 10, Hunt 7). Assists: 6 (Hayes 4). Steals: 14 (Morris 4, Hunt 3). Turnovers: 23.

CHESAPEAKE (5-1): Kristen Webb 2 0 0-0 4, Sarah Mayo 2 1 2-2 9, Casey Underwood 0 0 0-0 0, Anna Mayo 0 0 0-0 0, Maggie Smith 1 0 0-2 2, Sarah Rice 1 0 0-0 2, Amanda Ruffner 11 0 3-5 25, Ashlee Miller 0 0 0-0 0, Jillian Ellis 0 0 0-0 0, Mackenzie Moore 2 0 0-0 4, Jackie Nelson 2 0 0-0 4, Jordan Porter 2 0 1-2 5. Totals: 23 1 6-11 55. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: None.