By JIM WALKER

Tribune Sports Editor

The Ironton Lady Fighting Tigers went inside and out to beat the Ashland Kittens.

Ironton used the size of Nikki Elswick and the guard tandem of Alex Taylor and Ariel Schweickart to beat the Kittens 56-43 Tuesday.

Elswick had 25 points and 13 rebounds to dominate inside while Taylor scored 14 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and had five assists and three steals.

Schweickart helped keep the pressure on Ashland’s 3-point shooters and came up with three of Ironton’s seven steals.

“We had some size advantage that we were able to use and we had the guards who could jump out at them,” said Ironton coach Doug Graham.

Ironton went ahead 10-3 on back-to-back layups by Elswick. Ashland (4-2) got within 13-5 on a steal and layup by Allie Slone.

Elswick scored Ironton’s first seven points of the second quarter to go up 20-8 with 5:55 left in the half.

The Lady Tigers took a 28-14 lead on a foul shot by Elswick with 1:58 on the clock only to have Slone hit a 3-pointer.

Katlyn Adkins followed up her own shot to extend Ironton’s lead to 30-17 and Elswick’s layup off a pass from Taylor made it 32-18 at the break.

Ashland was within 33-21 early in the second half when Taylor had a putback and her layup plus a putback by Elswick rebuilt the lead to 41-24 with 1:25 left in the third quarter.

“Coach Graham always tells me to play my game. The (scoring) opportunities were just there for me tonight,” said Taylor.

Schweickart had a steal and layup that just beat the buzzer as Ironton took a 43-29 lead going into the fourth quarter.

A 3-point play by Elswick and a layup by Taylor with 4:03 left gave Ironton its biggest lead at 54-35.

Ironton (3-1) shot 23 of 46 from the field while holding Ashland to 15 of 58 shooting for 25.9 percent and only 9 of 32 from the 3-point line for 28 percent.

“Our defense was solid. We have some room for improvement, but we’re getting better,” said Graham.

Ironton hosts Boyd County, Ky., Thursday night and River Valley Saturday afternoon.

Ashland 5 13 11 14 = 43

Ironton 13 19 11 13 = 56

ASHLAND (4-2): Madison Jones 0 0 0-0 0, Sydney Cullop 0 0 0-0 0, Kaylyn Gambill 0 2 3-4 9, Mykal Ferris 2 1 0-1 7, Julie Heaberlin 1 0 0-0 2, Allie Slone 2 3 0-0 13, Alicia Gunter 0 0 1-4 1, Alexis Robinson 0 2 0-1 6, Shelby Gransberry 1 1 0-0 5, Haley Sue Foutch 0 0 0-0 0, Brett Ashley Justice 0 0 0-0 0, Breanna Gransberry 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15-58 4-10 43. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: None. 3-point goals: 9-32. Rebounds: 10 offense, 11 defense = 21 (Slone 5, Ferris 4). Team rebounds: 6. Assists: 3. Steals: 8 (Cullop 3, Slone 3). Turnovers: 14.

IRONTON (3-1): Alex Taylor 6 0 2-2 14, Nikki Elswick 9 0 7-11 25, Ariel Schweickart 3 0 0-0 6, Arden Sparks 1 0 0-2 2, Alicia Murphy 3 0 1-1 7, Emily Davis 0 0 0-0 0, Karlee McMackin 0 0 0-0 0, Torie Klaiber 0 0 0-0 0, Katlyn Adkins 1 0 0-0 2. Totals: 23-46 10-16 56. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: None. 3-point goals: 0-2. Rebounds: 13 offense, 27 defense = 40 (Elswick 13, Taylor 11, Schweickart 6). Team rebounds: 5. Assists: 10 (Taylor 5, Murphy 2, Elswick 2). Steals: 7 (Taylor 3, Schweickart 3). Turnovers: 26.