Coach Dale Royse gave his team a license to steal.

Green came up with 16 steals that enabled the Lady Bobcats to get past the St. Joseph Female Flyers 45-37 Wednesday.

Ashlee Runyon had eight steals and Ali Thompson four as Green rallied from an early deficit, then used some foul shooting down the stretch to hold off the Female Flyers.

“The steals were the difference,” said Royse. “It started in the second quarter when Runyon had two or three steals in a row that kind of jump started us.”

St. Joseph coach B.J. Hannon was proud of his team’s performance, but he agreed that turnovers were the difference along with the Female Flyers 36 percent shooting

“We played well, but we still have too many turnovers. We’re playing more aggressive but we missed too many easy shots. There was one time we missed four shots from point blank range,” said Hannon.

Michelle Staton scored six points in the first quarter as St. Joseph went ahead 10-4.

The lead was 14-4 early in the second quarter when Runyon went to work and scored six points and get Green within 22-21 at the break.

Charleigh Haas scored six points in the quarter for the Female Flyers.

The Lady Bobcats went up 32-29 at the end of the third quarter. St. Joseph closed to within one in the fourth quarter, but a 3-pointer by Ali Thompson and some clutch foul shooting enabled Green to maintain the lead.

Thompson scored 7 points in the quarter.

“Thompson hit some big shots for us,” said Royse. “St. Joe did a nice job defensively. They took us out of a lot of things.”

Thompson led Green (3-2) with 13 points. Runyon and Blankenship had 11 each. Blankenship also had 14 rebounds while Heather Pennington grabbed six.

Haas had 14 points and 10 rebounds to pace St. Joseph (1-5). Staton scored 13 and pulled down seven rebounds.

Danielle Blair handed out six assists and had three steals for the Flyers. Katie Schwab had four assists and Katie Hacker led with five steals.

Green4171113=45

St. Joseph101278=37

GREEN (3-2): Ali Thompson 4 1 2-2 13, Heather Pennington 1 0 0-0 2, Abbey Barrett 3 0 2-2 8, Ashlee Runyon 5 0 1-3 11, Cassie King 0 0 0-0 0, Breanna Johnson 0 0 0-0 0, Brandy Russell 0 0 0-0 0, Adriane Blankenship 4 0 3-4 11. Totals: 18-49 8-11 45. 3-point goals: 1-9. Fouls: 17. Fouled out: Pennington. Rebounds: 12-17=29 (Blankenship 14, Pennington 6). Assists: 8 (Runyon 4). Steals: 16 (Runyon 8, Thompson 4). Turnovers: 15.

ST. JOSEPH (1-5): Danielle Blair 2 0 0-0 4, Charleigh Haas 6 0 2-6 14, Katie Schwab 0 0 2-3 2, Michelle Staton 6 0 1-2 13, Katie Hacker 2 0 0-0 4, Sara Basedow 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16-44 5-11 37. 3-point goals: 0-6. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: Schwab. Rebounds: 12-14=26 (Haas 10, Staton 7). Assists: 14 (Blair 6, Schwab 4). Steals: 11 (Hacker 5, Blair 3). Turnovers: 28.