LUCASVILLE — There’s an old Appalachian saying, “The harder I work, the behinder I get.”

No matter how hard the South Point Lady Pointers tried Saturday, things just kept getting worse as they lost 59-44 to the Wheelersburg Lady Pirates in the Division III sectional finals.

South Point forced 22 turnovers but committed 26 of their own. They had 36 rebounds but gave up 38. They limited Wheelersburg to 41.7 percent shooting, but shot only 30.6 percent themselves.

“We just didn’t play,” said Lady Pointers coach Dave Adams. “When you have 26 turnovers and shoot that poorly, there’s no way you can get back in the game no matter how hard you try.”

Wheelersburg took an 11-1 lead to start the game only to have South Point rally to tie the game on a foul shot by Missy Wheeler with 5:16 left in the half.

But the Lady Pirates went on a 9-0 run to lead 20-11 and stretched the lead to 30-15 on two foul shots by Jacquie Thayer with four seconds left.

Sarah Lee’s driving layup at the buzzer got the Pointers within 30-17.

The Lady Pirates went ahead 38-18 to begin the second half. South Point turned to Tinesha Taylor who scored 10 points and cut the gap to 40-28 before the Wheelersburg went on a 6-0 run to end the quarter to lead 47-30.

South Point (14-7) managed to get within 52-42 on two foul shots by Lee with 2:58 left, but Wheelersburg outscored the Lady Pointers 7-2 the rest of the way.

Taylor had 14 points and 7 rebounds while Lee got 12 points and 9 rebounds.

Wheelersburg (14-6) was led by Sarah Schmidt with 17 points. Thayer added 11 and Lainee Clay had 9 rebounds.

Wheelersburg11191712=59

South Point7101314=44

WHEELERSBURG (14-6): Jamie Clevenger 0 2 0-0 6, Sarah Schmidt 6 1 2-4 17, Jessica Blanton 3 0 3-7 9, Brittany Warner 0 0 0-0 0, Lainee Clay 1 0 5-6 7, Jacquie Thayer 4 0 3-4 11, Kate Staker 2 1 2-5 9, Logan Barrick 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 20-48

15-26

59. 3-point goals: 4-8. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 11-17=28 (Clay 9, Warner 7, Blanton 7, Schmidt 6). Team rebounds: 2. Assists: 5 (Blanton 2, Schmidt 2). Steals: 15 (Blanton 5, Staker 4). Turnovers: 22. Blocked shots: 2 (Warner, Blanton).

SOUTH POINT (14-7): Missy Wheeler 1 0 2-4 4, T’Ann Mayo 1 0 0-1 2, Tinesha Taylor 4 0 6-7 14, Sarah Lee 4 0 4-6 12, Ericka Leighty 2 0 1-6 5, Caymie Collier 1 0 0-0 2, Vanessa Rogers 1 0 0-0 2, Raven Blake 10 1-2 3. Totals: 15-49

14-26

44. 3-point goals: 0-9. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 12-24=36 (Lee 9, Mayo 8, Taylor 7, Leighty 6). Assists: 9 (Leighty 3, Lee 2). Steals: 10 (Collier 3, Lee 3, Leighty 2). Turnovers: 26. Blocked shots: 1 (Rogers).