WEST PORTSMOUTH - Coach Amy Hughes was worried about a letdown. The Ironton Lady Fighting Tigers eased her fears.

On the road against a team with just two wins, Ironton could have been looking ahead to another game. But that wasn't the case as the Lady Tigers crushed the Portsmouth West Lady Senators 70-22 Monday.

"It's hard to get ready mentally for every team, especially a team you know you should beat," Hughes said. "But we played pretty well. We played defense with intensity and we rebounded well."

With starter Danielle Henderson sitting out due to shin splits, Ironton was down to 10 total players to split between the varsity and reserve games.

"We had to do some juggling with our lineups, and we couldn't substitute as much as we wanted. It was just one of those situations we couldn't control," Hughes said.

The other regulars picked up the offensive slack. Sara Hacker had 20 points, seven rebounds, and six steals. Andrea Rudmann scored 17 points to go with six assists and four steals, Mandi Boykin got 14 points, 11 rebounds and five steals. Sarah Cartmell pulled down nine rebounds.

The game was tied 2-2 when Ironton went on a 14-0 run to close out the first quarter for a 16-2 lead.

Ironton (13-4) was up 34-2 following a steal and layup by Boykin with two minutes left in the half. West (2-14) finally broke its draught on a foul shot by Lindi Coleman with 1:29 on the clock.

Leading 36-5 at the half, the Lady Tigers got four points each from Boykin, Hacker and Rachel Walker to build a 51-14 lead after three quarters.

Tennielle Young came off the bench to score eight points in the fourth quarter including a layup with 1:32 left that gave Ironton its biggest lead at 68-18.

In the reserve game, Young scored 23 points and Chelsea Cleary seven as Ironton won 41-31. Chelsey Distel and Charlee Graf had 11 each for West.

Ironton16201519-70

Prts. West2398-22

IRONTON (13-4):

Andrea Rudmann 8-18 (1-7) 0-0 17, Mandi Boykin 6-11 (0-2) 2-3 14, Sarah Cartmell 2-7 (0-0) 3-7 7, Sara Hacker 8-18 (0-2) 4-4 20, Shante' Lewis 0-0 (0-0) 0-1 0, Chelsey Cleary 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Rachel Walker 2-3 (0-0) 0-0 4, Tennielle Young 3-3 (0-0) 2-2 8, Krista Markel 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Nikki Harbolt 0-1 (0-0) 0-0 0. Totals: 29-54

(1-10)

11-18

70. Fouls: 10. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 15-29=44 (Boykin 11, Cartmell 9, Hacker 7). Team/dead ball rebounds: 3. Assists: 10 (Rudmann 6). Steals: 22 (Hacker 6, Boykin 5, Rudmann 4). Turnovers: 19. FG% – 53.7. FT% – 61.1. 3pt% – 10.

PORTSMOUTH WEST (2-14):

Kim Waller 2-14 (1-5) 0-0 5, Tara Bailey 0-2 (0-0) 0-2 0, Amber Sessor 2-8 (0-0) 0-1 4, Sam Adkins 0-3 (0-3) 0-0 0, Lindi Coleman 1-7 (0-2) 1-3 3, Brittany Sessor 0-0 (0-0) 0-0 0, Charlee Graf 1-3 (0-0) 0-0 2, Cassie Graf 2-4 (0-0) 2-4 6, Amanda Mershon 0-4 (0-3) 0-0 0. Totals: 8-44

(1-13)

3-10

22. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 8-16=24 (Amber Sessor 9, Cassie Graf 6). Team/dead ball rebounds: 7. Assists: None. Steals: 6 (Mershon 2). Turnovers: 32. FG% – 18.2. FT% – 30. 3pt% – 0.8.