Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

A picture might be worth 1,000 words, but 1,000 points are worth another win.

Amber Neal reached the 1,000th career point plateau and the St. Joseph Female Flyers notched a hard-fought 73-58 win over the Raceland Lady Rams on Monday.

“It looks like we blew them out, but it was anything but that,” said Female Flyers’ coach Nick Miller. “It was a good win because that was a hard-fought game.”

Lynsey Booker had a game-high 26 points and Hannah Miller scored 21 points as St. Joseph improved to 15-5. Neal — who came into the game needing 10 points to reach the scoring milestone — finished with 17 points.

“It was nice to see Amber get her 1,000th point. She’s worked hard and this is a nice way to cap four great years for us,” said coach Miller.

Neal wasn’t the only eventful scorer. Krystal Keeton had 14 points and also got her 1,000th career point for Raceland (12-14). Savannah Mackie had 19 points and Savannah Cotton also had 14 points.

Booker had 11 points while Miller and Neal each hit 3-pointers and scored 5 points apiece as St. Joseph took a 23-20 first quarter lead.

Keeton had 8 points and Mackie 6 in the quarter for the Rams.

Mackie scored 10 points and hit two triples in the second quarter as Raceland rallied to take a 38-34 lead at the half. Neal and Miller combined for 9 points in the quarter.

Neal scored her 1,000th point with one minute to play in the half.

Miller got 8 points in the third quarter as St. Joseph came back to take a 47-46 lead.

Cotton made three straight baskets to begin the fourth quarter as Raceland took a 6-point lead.

But St. Joseph’s Bri Bridges hit a 3-ball and had a stickback to cut the deficit to one. Neal hit a trifecta and the Female Flyers took the lead for good.

Booker had 10 points in the quarter including 6-of-6 from the line and Miller made 4-of-5 free throws.

St. Joseph was 12-of-13 at the line in the fourth quarter.

“We threw everything at them we had in the first half. They were knocking everything down,” said coach Miller.

“At halftime, we switched to man-to-man and got out on them. Our kids just started playing defense and that was the key to the whole thing.”

St. Joseph hosts South Point at 7:30 p.m. Thursday with senior night festivities starting a 7 p.m.

Raceland 20 18 8 12 = 58

St. Joseph 23 11 13 26 = 73

RACELAND (12-14): Krystal Keeton 7 0 0-0 14, Savannah Mackie 5 2 3-5 19, Michelle Vanderhoof 0 0 0-0 0, Savannah Cotton 7 0 0-0 14, Lauren Runyon 1 0 0-0 2, Lacee Penix 2 0 1-2 5, Holly Bryant 1 0 0-0 2. Totals: 24 2 4-7 58. Fouls: 22. Fouled out: Cotton.

ST. JOSEPH (15-5): Katie Roach 0 0 0-0 0, Amber Neal 3 3 2-2 17, Rachel Martin 0 0 0-0 0, Hannah Miller 7 1 4-6 21, Haley Bartram 1 0 0-1 2, Bri Bridges 2 1 0-0 7, Lynsey Booker 9 0 8-10 26. Totals: 22 5 14-19 73. Fouls: 10. Fouled out: None.