Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

Tell Chris Smith and Shane Salyers of the Ohio Highway Patrol or even Tony Forest of the Ironton Police Department they may want to keep their speeding ticket pads at arm’s reach.
The St. Joseph Lady Flyers aren’t going to pay attention to any speed limits this season and they were running in high gear on Friday as they raced past the Rose Hill Lady Royals 47-35 in the opening game of the new Parish Life Center.
“Early, half the time after getting a steal we were speeding ourselves up but I didn’t mind that pace because I knew we could do it and they couldn’t do it,” said Lady Flyers’ first-year coach Bart Burcham who notched his first career varsity win.
The Lady Flyers’ pressing defense forced 32 turnovers and caused Rose Hill to shoot only 27 percent from the field.
St. Joseph (1-1) did have 23 turnovers 13 came in the first half. The Lady Flyers outrebounded the Royals 46-38 with Faith Mahlmeister pulling down 14 boards and Bella Whaley grabbing 11.
“We didn’t press to start with because we wanted to get a feel of their personnel. Once we got comfortable with our matchups, that’s when we started pressing,” said Burcham.
“Our game is to use our speed. I think the more we pressed the more we wore them down and they stopped moving. They started making long passes and we were getting either deflections or steals.”
Mahlmeister had 14 points, Emma Whaley scored 13 and Bella Whaley 11 for the Lady Flyers.
Delaynee Sparks had 11 points and Baylee Trimble nine for Rose Hill (0-1).
Sparks scored on a layup at the 6:45 mark to put Rose Hill up only to have Bella Whaley hit a 3-pointer at the 6:33 mark to give the Lady Flyers the lead.
A foul shot by Mahlmeister and putback by Bella Whaley made it 12-9 at the end of the quarter.
Jana Murphy’s putback gave Rock Hill a 13-12 lead early in the second quarter, but Kaitlyn Sheridan’s trifecta and a layup by Mahlmeister off a pass from Sheridan put the lead at 17-15 as St. Joseph never trailed the rest of the game.
Two free throws by Laiken Unger and a steal and layup by Sheridan gave the Lady Flyers a 23-15 lead at the break.
Emma Whaley’s steal and layup followed by Bella Whaley’s baseline shot pushed the lead to 32-15 with 3:47 left in the third quarter.
Leading 33-20 to begin the fourth quarter, Emma Whaley hit two foul shots and Mahlmeister made a layup.
The lead grew to 44-28 with 1:33 left on a foul shot by Emma Whaley.
St. Joseph evened its record after losing its opener on Monday at Portsmouth West.
“Just the growth we’ve had from Monday to today was big. West was really good. We competed in that game, we just didn’t rebound. Tonight, we boxed out better, we rebounded, we took care of the ball 60 percent of the time. And Faith was awesome on the boards,” said Burcham.
“The more they play, the better we’ll be.”
St. Joseph visits Hannan, W.Va., on Monday.
Rose Hill 9 4 7 15 = 35
St. Joseph 12 11 19 14 = 47
ROSE HILL (0-1): Ashleigh Riffe 1 0 0-0 2, Bellamee Sparks 0 1 0-0 3, Shelby Nibert 1 1 0-1 5, Delaynee Sparks 5 0 1-3 11, Baylee Trimble 3 0 3-3 9, Jewelia Van Keuren 0 0 0-2 0, Jana Murphy 2 0 1-4 5, Hannah Brower 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14-52 5-13 35. 3-pt goals: 2-12. Rebounds: 12-O, 26=-D = 38 (B. Sparks 12). Team/deadball rebounds: 8. Assists: 6 (B. Sparks 3, D. Sparks 2). Steals: 20 (Riffe 5, D. Sparks 4). Turnovers: 32. Fouls: 20. Fouled out: None.
ST. JOSEPH (1-1): Kaitlyn Sheridan 1 1 0-0 5, Emma Whaley 2 0 9-12 13, Emilee Blankenship 0 0 2-2 2, Faith Mahlmeistter 5 0 4-6 14, Bella Whaley 4 1 0-0 11, Chloe Sheridan 0 0 0-0 0, Laiken Unger 0 0 2-3 2, Lydia Sheridan 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14-59 17-23 47. 3-pt goals: 2-9. Rebounds: 21-O, 25=D = 46 (Mahlmeister 14, B. Whaley 11). Team/deadball rebounds: 6. Assists: 8 (Sheridan 4). Steals: 21 (K. Sheridan 5, C. Sheridan 5, B. Whaley 4). Turnovers: 23. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: None.