Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

WILLOW WOOD — The Symmes Valley Lady Vikings waited a couple of quarters, but it was worth the wait.
The Lady Vikings used a strong second half defense to beat the Western Lady Indians 62-39 in a Southern Ohio Conference game on Thursday.
Symmes Valley led 31-23 at the half before holding Western to just 8 points in each of the final two quarters.
“We played pretty well, especially the whole second half,” said Lady Vikings’ coach Alvin Carpenter. “Any time you can hold a team to single digits you’ve done a pretty good job.”
Jensyn Shepherd led the Lady Vikings with 22 points and 4 blocked shots. Payton Walsh scored 12 points to go with 8 rebounds and 3 steals.
Kassie Baldwin added 10 points while Kaitlyn Crabtree had 8 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 blocked shots. Sierra Ross had 8 points, 4 steals and 4 assists.
C.C. Shanks scored 15 points and Tylie Tong had 11 for Western.
Shepherd scored 8 points in the first quarter as the Lady Vikings took a 17-11 lead. Tong had 6 points in the quarter.
Baldwin scored 6 points to help offset 8 points by Shanks in the second quarter as the lady Vikings lead went to 31-23.
Walsh got 7 points in the third quarter as the lead grew to 50-31.
The Lady Vikings’ defense held the Lady Indians to just two 2-point and two 3-point field goals in the second half.
On Monday, the Lady Vikings visit Portsmouth Notre Dame.
Western       11    12    8    8    =    39
Sym. Valley      17    14    19    12    =    62
WESTERN (NA): Sylvia Evans 2 0 2-6 6, Haley Whitt 0 0 5-12 5, C.C. Shanks 3 3 0-6 15, Cierra Bowles 1 0 0-0 2, Tylie Tong 1 3 0-0 11. Totals: 7 6 6-24 39. Fouls: 11. Fouled out None.
SYMMES VALLEY (3-2, 3-1): Kaitlyn Crabtree 1 0 1-2 3, Payton Hunter 0 0 0-1 0, Jensyn Shepherd 11 0 0-0 22, Sierra Ross 2 0 4-6 8, Rachael Hayes 1 1 0-0 5, Kinsey Kitts 1 0 0-0 2, Kassie Baldwin 2 2 0-0 10, Payton Walsh 3 2 0-8 12. Totals: 21 5 5-9 62. Fouls: 19, Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 39 (Crabtree 8, Walsh 8). Blocks: 9 (Shepherd 4, Crabtree 4). Steals: 11 (Ross 4, Walsh 3). Assists: 15 (Crabtree 6, Ross 4). Turnovers: 18.