Lyons uses zone defense to solve St. Joseph

Lyons 62, St. Joseph 54

THE SKINNY

Lyons’ 2-3 zone defense early in the second quarter made the difference, holding St. Joseph (6-10) without a shot for a stretch of nearly five minutes, as Lyons (9-5) won the nonconference match Saturday in La Grange.

TURNING POINT

Lyons junior guard Vicki Swift ended the first quarter with a 3-pointer to give her team a 13-11 lead. Amber Brooks made a basket to open the second quarter to tie the game for the Chargers, but St. Joseph went without another shot as Lyons went on an 8-1 run. Lyons led 21-14 at the end of the run and 28-22 at halftime.

THE STAR

Senior forward Kayla Morrissey (seven rebounds) scored a team-high 16 points on 7-of-8 shooting. Morrissey buried her first seven shots until missing her only attempt in the fourth quarter. Morrissey shot 2-of-6 at the free-throw line as Lyons went 17-for-35 as a team.

BY THE NUMBERS

St. Joseph lost its third consecutive game despite senior Chanel Brown’s game-high 22 points and six rebounds. Brown had 10 points in the first half and shot 6-of-11 at the line. “We have to work on our layups,” St. Joseph coach Jim Maley said. “I’d have to look at the video, but I think we missed 20 layups. That’s a lot of points.”

QUOTABLE

“It’s nice to be back [after the holidays]. We had a couple of days off, but coach had us practice. We got our legs back.” — Morrissey