Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

The mystery continues.
The St. Joseph Lady Flyers may enlist Columbo to help solve the reason for their continued slow starts, but they were able to solve how to finish strong as they beat the Sciotoville East Lady Tartans 45-31 in a Southern Ohio Conference game on Monday.
“I wish I could figure it out. I keep trying different things. I think we just need to relax and play the game,” said Lady Flyers’ coach Bart Burcham.
“But I can never fault our girls’ effort. They play so hard. East has improved and they played hard. I’m not going to take anything away from them.”
As usual, the game started slow for the Lady Flyers offensively.
Kaitlyn Sheridan had 4 points to offset 4 points by East’s Kacie Conley and the game was tied 7-7 after the first quarter.
Emma Whaley hit a trifecta and Gracie Damron had all 3 of her points in the second quarter as St. Joseph took a 16-13 lead at the break.
Bella Whaley caught fire in the third quarter as she scored 10 points including 2-of-2 at the foul line and Emma Whaley added 4 points as the Lady Flyers outscored East 16-5 to extend the lead to 32-18.
Each team scored 13 points in the fourth quarter.
Both Bella and Emma Whaley scored 4 points each while Conley hit a 3-oiner and scored 6 points for East.
Bella Whaley had a game-high 18 points and completed a double-double as she pulled down 12 rebounds. Faith Mahlmeister had 5 rebounds and Damron 4 to lead St. Joseph (7-5, 5-3).
Conley scored 13 points to lead East (0-12, 0-8).
St. Joseph hosts Green on Thursday.
Sciotoville 7 6 5 13 = 31
St. Joseph 7 9 16 13 = 45
SCIOTOVILLE EAST (0-12, 0-8): Peyton Johnson 1 1 0-0 5, Shayla Rosenagle 1 0 0-0 2, Journey Pelfrey 0 0 0-0 0, Betty Osborne 0 0 0-0 0, Felicia Smith 2 0 1-2 5, Sydnee O’Connor 0 0 0-0 0, Grace Smith 0 1 -0 3, Kacie Conley 3 2 1-2 13, Mia Caldwell 0 1 0-0 3. Totals: 7 5 2-4 31. Fouls: 8. Fouled out: None.
ST. JOSEPH (7-5, 5-3): Kaitlyn Sheridan 3 0 0-0 6, Faith Mahlmeister 1 0 1-4 3, Emma Whaley 4 1 0-0 11, Bella Whaley 8 0 2-2 18, Chloe Sheridan 1 0 0-0 2, Aubrey Sutton 1 0 0-0 2, Gracie Damron 1 0 1-1 3, Kerri Jenkins 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 19 1 4-7 45. Rebounds: 25 (B. Whaley 12, Mahlmeister 5, Damron 4, C. Sheridan 3, E. Whaley 1). Fouls: 11. Fouled out: None.