Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

The Symmes Valley Lady Vikings were O-D-G.
The Lady Vikings were offensively and defensively good as they beat the St. Joseph Lady Flyers 58-39 in a Southern Ohio Conference game on Thursday.
“We did a nice job on defense. Offensively, we were really balanced. We just have to keep getting better,” said Lady Vikings’ coach Shannon Pierce.
“It was a good win. St. Joe is well-coached and plays hard.”
The Lady Vikings’ had three players in double figures and placed 10 players in the scoring column.
Morgan Lyons scored 13 points, Kyle Thompson had 12 points and Desiree Simpson added 10 points.
The Lady Flyers were led by Bella Whaley with a 20-20 as she scored 22 points and pulled down 20 rebounds. Gracie Damron added 9 points.
St. Joseph (1-4, 1-4) just got back two players who have been out for more than a week and were still missing point guard and second-leading scorer Emma Whaley.
But Lady Flyers’ coach Bart Burcham said it didn’t matter.
“You just have to tip your hat to Symmes Valley. They played well,” said Burcham.
The Lady Vikings jumped ahead 18-5 the first quarter as Lyons scored 6 and Thompson hit a 3-pointer as she got 5 points.
The lead grew to 31-10 at the half as Lyons hit a 3-pointer and scored 5 points and five different players scored for the Lady Vikings in the quarter.
Thompson had 5 more points with her second trey as the lead went to 44-19 after three quarters. Damron scored 7 of her 9 points in the quarter.
Whaley hit a pair of trifectas and scored 14 of her points in the fourth quarter for the Lady Flyers.
Symmes Valley plays Western on Saturday in a make-up game. St. Joseph’s game Monday against Green has been postponed.
Sym. Valley 18 13 13 14 = 58
St. Joseph 5 5 9 20 = 39
SYMMES VALLEY (2-3, 2-1): Jenna Malone 1 0 3-4 5, Morgan Lyons 5 1 0-0 13, Hailee Beckett 2 0 0-2 4, Jordan Ellison 2 0 0-0 4, Emma Casteel 0 1 0-0 3, Desiree Simpson 5 0 0-0 10, Kylee Thompson 3 2 0-0 12, Hailee Gordon 1 0 0-0 2, Kelsi Gothard 0 0 0-0 0, Alison Klaiber 1 0 0-0 2, 0 0 0-0 0, Spring Ross 0 1 0-0 3. Totals: 20 5 3-6 58. Fouls: 8. Fouled out: None.
ST. JOSEPH (1-4, 1-4): Bella Whaley 5 3 3-6 22, Gracie Damron 4 0 1-2 9, Laiken Unger 0 0 0-2 0, Chloe Sheridan 0 0 0-0 0, Emilee Blankenship 0 0 0-0 0, Addie Philabaun 0 0 1-2 1, Riley Daniels 1 0 0-0 2, Ava Weber 2 0 1-2 5. Totals: 11 3 6-14 39. Rebounds: 32 (Whaley 20, Damron 3, Sheridan 3, Blankenship 2, Unger 2, Daniels 1, Philabaun 1). Fouls: 9. Fouled out: None.