Maybe the Ironton Lady Fighting Tigers should make every game Senior Night.

Ironton’s lone senior Mercedes Crockrel celebrated her final home game by scoring 23 points, grabbing six rebounds and handing out six assists as Ironton beat the Marietta Tigers 62-51 Saturday in a Southeastern Ohio Athletic League game.

“I was just really mad. I was going to play my hardest,” said Crockrel. “We all played really well together. Everybody was playing with intensity. Everyone stepped up.”

Ironton coach Doug Graham wasn’t happy with his team’s 18 turnovers, but he was pleased with his team’s effort.

“We had too many turnovers, but we played really hard,” said Graham. “Mercedes stepped up like she’s capable of doing, and I thought Cortney Rister did a nice job defensively for us off the bench when we got in foul trouble early.”

Overshadowed but not lost in the light of Crockrel’s efforts was the performance of point guard Brea Tackett who scored 25 points including 5-of-5 from behind the arc. She also had six rebounds and two assists.

Lorna Ceaser had nine rebounds and Alex Taylor eight despite sitting almost half the game in foul trouble.

A layup by LeAnne Ross put Marietta up 3-2 with 4:52 on the first quarter clock. It was Marietta’s only lead of the game.

Tackett hit a layup and a trifecta to give Ironton a 7-3 lead. A layup by Crockrel with six seconds left pushed the lead to 12-7.

Ironton went up 16-10 on a layup by Ceaser two minutes into the second quarter, but a three-point play by Amanda Brown got Marietta within 19-17 with 5:03 left in the half.

A 6-0 run put Ironton ahead 25-19 but Lauren Ross hit the only triple of the game for Marietta with 1:23 on the clock and cut the deficit to 25-24.

Tackett answered with her own trey and Ironton was up 28-24 at the break.

Marietta got its own string of six straight points including two foul shots by Ricci Davis at the 2:41 mark that tied the game at 34-34.

But Tackett made two free throws and Crockrel drained a trifecta as Ironton went up 39-34 at the end of the quarter.

Taylor’s putback, a free throw by Crockrel, a layup and 3-pointer by Tackett started the fourth quarter as Ironton opened up a 47-34 lead with 5:39 to go.

Marietta got within 53-45 on a three-point play by LeAnne Ross with 2:17 to play, but Tackett came right back with a layup and Ironton converted 5-of-8 from the foul line over the final 1:39 to seal the win.

LeAnne Ross led Marietta with a game-high 30 points, 15 coming in the fourth quarter.

Marietta 7 17 10 17 = 51

Ironton 12 16 11 23 = 62

MARIETTA (9-9, 5-5): Meagan Grosel 1-2 0-0 2, LeAnne Ross 10-22 10-15 30, Paige Lamb 0-4 2-2 2, Mary Schramm 0-5 1-2 1, Alyson Stalter 0-1 0-0 0, Allison Fouss 1-2 0-0 2, Amanda Brown 1-4 1-1 3, Lauren Ross 1-3 0-0 3, Ricci Davis 3-6 2-2 8, Elizabeth Stoll 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 17-49 16-22 51. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: Schramm (4th 0:11). 3-point goals: 1-4 (Lamb 0-2, Brown 0 -1, La. Ross 1-1). Rebounds: 12-15=27 (Le. Ross 8, Davis 7). Deadball/team rebounds: 2. Assists: 3. Steals: 8 (Le. Ross 4, Grosel 2). Turnovers: 14.

IRONTON (13-5, 9-2): Mercedes Crockrel 8-15 6-8 23, Alex Taylor 1-2 2-4 4, Brea Tackett 9-13 2-2 25, Janie Morris 0-4 0-0 0, Lorna Ceaser 3-5 1-2 7, Cortney Rister 1-1 0-0 2, Emily Lilly 0-0 1-2 1. Totals: 22-40 12-18 62. Fouls: 17. Fouled out: None. 3-point goals: 6-6 (Tackett 5-5, Crockrel 1-1). Rebounds: 8-25=33 (Ceaser 9, Taylor 8, Crockrel 6, Tackett 6). Deadball/team rebounds: 1. Assists: 12 (Crockrel 6, Tackett 2). Steals: 6 (Morris 2). Turnovers: 18.

RESERVES: Marietta 31, Ironton 18.