DANVILLE — The Danville Blue Devils (6-11, 3-8 MBC) dropped their fourth game in a row, getting outmuscled by the Johnstown Johnnies, 67-54, in Mid-Buckeye Conference girls basketball action on Wednesday.
The Devils had four players hit a pair of 3-pointers, including Rice, Kate Walls, Bri Staats (15 points) and Ashley Didinger (eight points).
“We shot it well, early,” said Danville coach Shane Henry. “They turned it over to us a few times.”
It looked good early on for the Blue Devils. They keyed off a couple of steals by Olivia Rice (six points) and grabbed the early lead, 8-2. As a team, Danville had eight steals for the game.
The Johnnies (12-4, 8-3 MBC) led by Natalie Carpenter (23 points) began to slowly awaken and sneak up on the Blue Devils.
“They got a couple of layups from Carpenter in transition,” said Henry. “That’s what she does. She hits the layups in transition and then, she gets going. Then, I look up and she had 23 and that’s how it happens with her.”
Laiken Valentine’s 3-pointer, followed by two Carpenter buckets at the end of the second quarter, led Johnstown to its first lead, 31-30, as the teams headed to the locker room.
The Johnnies’ defense shifted in the second half and Danville could not regain the advantage.
 dropped their fourth game in a row, getting outmuscled by the Johnstown Johnnies, 67-54, in Mid-Buckeye Conference girls basketball action on Wednesday.){kind=link}