Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

Maybe practice hasn’t made the St. Joseph Lady Flyers perfect, but it has made them better.

The Lady Flyers showed more balance in their scoring again as they beat the Portsmouth Clay Lady P anthers 57-16 in a Southern Ohio Conference game on Thursday.

“We’ve had some really good practices lately. The girls are really playing hard and getting better at sharing the ball and slowly getting better on defense,” said Lady Flyers’ coach Bart Burcham.

“Gracie (Damron) and Addie (Philabaun) played really well tonight. Kenzie (Wilds) and Emily (Litton) played so hard, too. They’re getting more confident everyday.”

Bella Whaley led the Lady Flyers again with 15 points and 11 rebounds, but Damron had a career-high 14 points along with 5 rebounds while Laiken “Quakin’” Unger had 7 points and 7 boards. Addie Philabaun had 4 rebounds from her point guard position.

“Bella and Laiken have really taken charge of this team and are doing what captains are supposed to do. Bella is so consistent and did a little big of everything tonight. Laiken really ran the floor hard and got a couple of easy baskets,” said Burcham.

Whaley scored 9 point, Litton had 4 points, Unger had 3 points and Wilds drained a 3-pointer as St. Joseph (5-10, 5-5) leaped out to a 20-3 first quarter lead.

Damron had 8 points in the second quarter while Whaley buried a trifecta and scored 6 points as the lead ballooned to 38-5.

Kyleigh Oliver had Clay’s lone basket.

Damron had 6 more points with Unger and Litton adding baskets in the third quarter and the lead was 48-12.

Rylan Jenkins had a basket and Morgan McCoy was 5-of-6 at the foul line for Clay’s 7 points.

Mia Weber scored all 5 of her points in the fourth quarter for the Lady Flyers with sister Ava Weber getting a basket.

Sarah Cassidy and McCoy had 2 points each in the quarter for Clay.

St. Joseph will host Rose Hill on Monday.

Ports. Clay 3 2 7 4 = 16

St. Joseph 20 18 10 9 = 57

PORTSMOUTH CLAY (1-13, 1-8): Sarah Cassidy 2 0 0-2 4, Tori Covert 0 0 0-2 0, Lynsey Loop 0 0 0-0 0, Amandea Evermon 0 0 0-0 0, Rylan Jenkins 1 0 0-0 2, Kyleigh Oliver 1 0 1-2 3, Morgan McCoy 0 0 7-8 7. Totals: 4 0 8-14 16. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: McCoy.

ST. JOSEPH (5-10, 5-5): Gracie Damron 6 0 2-4 14, Addie Philabaun 1 0 0-0 2, Laiken Unger 2 0 3-6 7, Emily Litton 4 0 0-0 8, Lydia Sheridan 0 0 0-0 0, Bella Whaley 4 1 5-6 15, Ava Weber 1 0 0-0 2, McKenzie Wilds 0 1 0-0 3, Mia Weber 2 0 1-2 5. Totals: 20 2 11-18 57. Rebounds: 40 (Whaley 11, Unger 7, Damron 5, Philabaun 4, Wilds 3, Litton 3, M. Weber 3, A. Weber 3, Sheridan 1). Fouls: 10. Fouled out: None.