By Grant Traylor Herald-Dispatch

OAK HILL, Ohio -- When talking about Huntington St. Joe girls basketball, the first thing that often comes to mind is the explosive offense that the team possesses.

The Irish proved Saturday that the team is built on more than just offense, going into the house of perennial Ohio Division III power Oak Hill and coming away with a 38-35 win over the Lady Oaks.

"We know their kids really well and we've seen their strengths and weaknesses," Huntington St. Joe coach Shannon Lewis said. "We weren't doing great things offensively, but our defense stepped up and won it. That's something we will need later on."

The Irish trailed 29-23 following a 3-pointer by Oak Hill's Taylor Hale with 5:40 left in the third quarter, but that would prove to be the last field goal for the Lady Oaks, who went nearly 14 minutes without hitting a shot from the field.

Huntington St. Joe countered with a 13-0 run, sparked by a pair of clutch 3-pointers from Courtney Anderson to build a 36-29 lead.

Six consecutive free throws by Oak Hill cut the lead to 36-35,and the Lady Oaks had a chance to knot the game up, but a missed free throw led to a rebound by Mychal Johnson, who followed with two free throws with four seconds left.

Johnson, who finished with 12 points, seven rebounds and four steals, stole the subsequent outlet pass to secure the win.

St. Joe was playing without Asia Petitte, who missed the game due to illness, and Oak Hill's defense took away Johnson and Griffin Dempsey in the second half, limiting the duo to just three field goal attempts in the final two quarters.

"We were without Asia, and she's a big part of our success," Lewis said. "With Asia not here, we needed to have someone step up. Rachel got some open shots and hit a few of them and Courtney came in with two huge threes for us. She's been playing much better lately."

With Oak Hill concentrating its efforts on St. Joe's leading duo, Anderson and Rachel Lee stepped up with big shots. Lee ended the contest with nine points -- all on 3-pointers.

Hale led Oak Hill with 18 points, but she was held scoreless in the final quarter by St. Joe's defense. Breanna Butler, Oak Hill's leading scorer coming into the game, was held to seven points.

"We were playing a matchup zone and we really wanted to know where Hale and Butler were at," Lewis said. "We wanted every possession and every shot to be tough for them. The kids just talked and did a nice job."

Huntington St. Joe returns to action on Monday at home against Ashland.

HUNTINGTON ST. JOE 12 9 10 7 -- 38: Johnson 12, Dempsey 7, Lee 9, C. Anderson 6, Foster 4

OAK HILL 13 10 6 6 -- 35: Hale 18, Butler 7, Adkins 4, Haislop 3, Roseberry 3.

OAK HILL 63, HUNTINGTON ST. JOE 50: The Irish held a slim halftime lead, but Oak Hill outscored Huntington St. Joe 18-6 in the third quarter to distance themselves and earn the win.

Josh Pierson led Huntington St. Joe with 24 points, including 15 in the fourth quarter as the Irish tried to rally.

Michael Mayes scored all of his 16 points in the first half for Huntington St. Joe, which used a 13-0 run in the second quarter to take a 27-23 lead to the locker room.

Nick Gaines led Oak Hill with 17 points while Drew Haislop added 16.

HUNTINGTON ST. JOE 14 13 6 17 -- 50: Pierson 24, Mayes 16, Daugherty 4, Dransfeld 2, Brooks 2, Goetz 2

OAK HILL 11 12 18 22 -- 63: Haislop 16, Gaines 17, Hammond 9, Kisor 9, Love 9, Harrison 1, Fairchild 2