Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

OK, we cleaned up the defense. Next up, the offense.
The St. Joseph Lady Flyers scored 62 points in a win over Symmes Valley but gave up 49. So, head coach Bart Burcham went to work on the defense and the Lady Flyers gave up 39 and 31 in their next two games.
The defense was there again on Saturday, but the offense struggled again as the Lady Flyers lost 38-32 to the Portsmouth West Lady Senators.
“We’ve been working hard on defense. We needed to clean that up and the girls have done a good job. These girls play so hard and do everything asked of them,” said Burcham.
“We get some work on our offense and hopefully we’ll get the two of them working at the same time.”
West (8-7) shot just 27 percent from the field including 17 percent from the 3-point line. But the Lady Flyers made just 25 percent from the field that included 22 percent from the arc.
Layups by Faith Mahlmeister and Bella Whaley to end the first quarter gave St. Joseph a 13-9 lead.
Bella Whaley made a layup and Kaitlyn Sheridan hit an 18-footer and the lead was 17-9 with 6:58 left in the half.
But West went on a 10-0 run as the Lady Flyers didn’t score again until Mahlemister’s foul shot with 32 seconds on the clock and Bella Whaley hit a 3-pointer with nine seconds left to give St. Joseph a 21-19 lead at the break.
Morgan Rigsby made a layup to tie the game and Edin Cline hit a 3-pointer at the 5:26 mark to give West the lead for good at 24-21.
Mahlmeister’s layup cut the deficit to 24-23 at the 1:07 mark only to have Rigsby hit a 15-footer and it was 26-23 to end the quarter.
Emma Whaley’s 3-pointer got St. Joseph within 28-26 with 5:29 to go and her layup off a pass from Sheridan made it 31-28 with four minutes to play.
But Charlie Jo Howard hit a 3-pointer, Abby Adkins hit two foul shots and Howard made a free throw for a 37-30 lead.
Bella Whaley had a putback and it was 37-32 with 16 seconds left but Howard sank another free throw to seal the outcome.
Mahlemister had 11 points and 5 rebounds, Bella Whaley 9 points and 8 rebounds and Sheridan 5 assists to pace St. Joseph (7-7).
Rigsby had 11 points for West.
St. Joseph goes to Western on Monday.
Ports. West 9 19 7 12 = 38
St. Joseph 13 8 2 9 = 32
PORTSMOUTH WEST (8-7): Maelynn Howell 0 0 1-4 1, Abby Adkins 0 0 2-2 2, Charlie Jo Howard 0 1 4-6 7, Morgan Rigsby 5 0 1-2 11, Kemie Bennett 0 0 0-0 0, Edin Cline 2 1 0-0 7, Abbie Pack 0 1 0-0 3, Haley Coleman 2 0 1-1 5, Emiley Sissel 1 0 0-0 2. Totals: 13-48 9-15 38. 3-pt goals: 3-18. Rebounds: 16-O, 26-D = 42 (Rigsby 8, Pack 5, Bennett 5). Team/deadball rebounds: 6. Assists: 3 (Howard 2). Steals: 5. Turnovers: 16. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: None.
ST. JOSEPH (7-7): Kaitlyn Sheridan 1 0 1-2 3, Faith Mahlmeister 5 0 1-2 11, Emma Whaley 1 1 0-0 5, Bella Whaley 3 1 0-0 9, Chloe Sheridan 2 0 0-0 4, Gracie Damron 0 0 0-0 0, Kerri Jenkins 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 11-44 2-4 32. 3-pt goals: 2-9. Rebounds: 7-O, 20-D = 27 (B. Whaley 8, Mahlmeister 5, C. Sheridan 5). Teamd/deadball rebounds: 2. Assists: 8 (K. Sheridan 5, E. Whaley 2). Steals: 8 (E. Whaley 2, C. Sheridan 2, K. Sheridan 2). Turnovers: 13. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: None.