Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

A new offense brought some new results, but it was good old, hard-nosed defense that was the difference.
The St. Joseph Lady Flyers used a new offense and an old defense to deal the Covenant Christian Lady Defenders their first loss of the season on Thursday, 46-24.
“We played pretty good. We had good balance on offense and everyone played a played well,” said Lady Flyers’ coach Bart Burcham.
“The girls worked really hard on Tuesday. We put in a new offense and it worked pretty well.”
The balanced scoring was led by cousins Emma and Bella Whaley with nine points each. Laiken Unger came off the bench to score eight points, Kaitlyn Sheridan had seven points, Chloe Sheridan six points and Faith Mahlmeister had five points and nine rebounds — seven on offense.
“Faith was great on the boards again. But Chloe and Bella and Laiken did a nice job for us, too,” said Burcham as the Lady Flyers had 30 rebounds with 17 coming off the offensive glass.
“But the big thing was our defense. The girls played really hard and Kaitlyn Sheridan set the tone. She really pressured the ball and got everyone in sync and moving.”
St. Joseph took a 14-7 first quarter lead as five different players scored including four points each from Emma Whaley and Chloe Sheridan.
The defense held Covenant to three points in the second quarter and Bella Whaley scored four points and Mahlmeister three as the lead went to 23-10 at the break.
The Lady Flyers stepped up the offense in the third quarter as Kaitlyn Sheridan scored five points, Emma Whaley hit a triple and scored five points while Bella Whaley added a trifectaand the lead was not 40-17.
Burcham inserted all five freshmen in the lineup for the fourth quarter and Unger took advantage of the opportunity to score eight points.
The rookie quintet held Covenant in check with seven points to secure the Lady Flyers’ second win in four games.
Karleigh Collins had eight points and Eden Bumgardner seven points to pace Covenant.
St. Joseph hosts Greenup County on Monday at 6 p.m.
Covenant 7 3 7 7 = 24
St. Joseph 14 9 17 6 = 46
COVENANT (3-1): Eden Bumgardner 3 0 1-1 7, Tori Blankenship 0 0 0-0 0, Karleigh Collins 3 0 2-3 8, Grace Hagley 2 0 1-3 5, Kassie Yenay 1 0 2-4 4, Elizaberth Kelly 0 0 0-0 0, Alyxis Ramey 0 0 0-0 0, Emma Yeager 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 9 0 6-11 24. Fouls: 3. Fouled out: None.
ST. JOSEPH (2-2): Kaitlyn Sheridan 3 0 1-1 7, Faith Mahlmeister 2 0 1-1 5, Emilee Blankenship 1 0 0-0 2, Emma Whaley 3 1 0-0 9, Bella Whaley 3 1 0-0 9, Chloe Sheridan 3 0 0-0 6, Lydia Sheridan 0 0 0-0 0, Kerri Jenkins 0 0 0-0 0, Laiken Unger 4 0 0-0 8. Totals: 19 2 2-2 46. Rebounds: 17-O, 13-D = 30 (Mahlmeister 9, B. Whaley 5, C. Sheridan 5, Unger 5). Fouls: 13. Fouled out: None.