It was a tale of two halves, and the ending wasn’t very happy.

The Symmes Valley Lady Vikings trailed the league-leading Portsmouth Clay Lady Panthers at halftime by just five points.

But the Lady Vikings were outscored 32-14 in the second half as they fell 53-30 Thursday in a Southern Ohio Conference game.

“We started out well in the first half, then it started to spiral out of control quickly,” said Lady Vikings’ coach Lisa Bryant.

“We played well on the defensive end the first half but it was a totally different story in the second half. We came out flat both defensively and offensively in the second half.”

The Lady Vikings trailed just 10-8 after the first quarter. Brooke Skinner had four points in the second quarter to keep her team close, but Clay’s Dani Summers had six points and the lead was 21-16 at the half.

Katie Wheeler scored six points and Summers four in the third quarter as Clay opened up a 37-24 lead.

“Clay is a good ball club and played good defense, but that wasn’t the only reason for our poor shooting. We missed over six shots right under the basket and missed open shots that would have normally gone in for us,” said Bryant.

Symmes Valley was just 12-of-49 from the field including 5-of-25 in the second half.

Skinner had 10 points to lead the Lady Vikings (5-8, 4-6).

Summers scored 16 for Clay (10-3, 8-2).

Portsmouth Clay 10 11 16 16 = 53

Symmes Valley 8 8 8 6 = 30

PORTSMOUTH CLAY (10-3, 8-2): Katherine Bauer 3 0 0-2 6, Sarah Castle 1 0 0-0 2, Katie Wheeler 4 0 2-4 10, Dani Summers 8 0 0-0 16, Morgan Jackson 10 1-2 3, Holly Hemphill 50 1-4 11, Kelley Craft 2 0 0-0 4. Totals: 24 0 5-14 53. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: None.

SYMMES VALLEY (5-8, 4-6): Nikki Nance 0 0 1-2 1, Haily Pelletier 0 0 0-0 0, Brooke Skinner 30 4-8 10, Chelsea Wall 2 0 0-0 4, Jessie Morris 2 0 0-4 4, Jenni Wilson 2 0 0-0 4, Erica Corn 30 1-2 7, Ada Humphrey 0 0 0-0 0, Caitie Bloomfield 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 12-49 6-16 30. Fouls: 17. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 25 (Pelletier 5). Assists: 9 (Corn 3). Steals: 7 (Wall 4, Corn 2).