Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

Two halves make a whole, and it was a whole lot as far as the Ironton Lady Fighting Tigers were concerned.

The Lady Tigers put together their best all-around performance of the season as they downed the Fairland Lady Dragons 68-26 on Monday in an Ohio Valley Conference game.

“We put two halves together. In previous games, we didn’t have a complete game. Tonight we played a good first half and a good second half offensively and defensively,” said Ironton coach Doug Graham.

Ironton (4-0, 2-0) got plenty of contributions from everyone on both ends of the floor.

Lexie Wise had 18 points, eight rebounds, two assists and three steals. Lexie Barrier had a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds plus two assists. Cheyenne Scott added 11 points and two assists while Sydney Webb had 9 points, three assists and three steals.

The bench of Alyssa Lewis, Zakia Lee and D’Laynie Keith combined for 14 points with Lewis scoring 8.

“From Sydney diving on the floor in the first quarter to Zakia scoring a couple of buckets to Lexie Wise at the free throw line in the second half to Lexie Barrier doing everything to Cheyenne knocking down some buckets,” said Graham.

The Lady Tigers limited Fairland to an 11-of-45 shooting from the field for 24 percent.

“Defensively, we followed the game plan and executed the game plan. It was a total team effort and a complete game,” said Graham.

Emily Chapman had 8 points and Alesha Simpson 7 points and five rebounds for Fairland (2-1, 1-1).

Fairland made 23 3-point goals over their first two games as they beat Rock Hill 75-33 and Tolsia 66-41. Graham said that was an area of focus for the defense.

“We wanted to get out and contest those 3-point shooters. They shot 50 percent from 3-point range their first couple of games so we knew they had the capability of getting hot and catching on fire and making it a 10-point game or a win for them,” said Graham.

“(Fairland) will win a lot of games. They’re young. They’ll get better as the year goes on.”

Wise had a 3-point play to start the game and Simpson scored at the 6:05mark to make it 3-2.

The Lady Tigers went on an 11-0 run until Chapman hit a 3-pointer with 1:12 left in the quarter. Webb answered with her own trifecta and it was 17-5.

Ironton then scored 13 unanswered points capped by Barrier’s 10-footer and it was 30-5. Emma Fulton’s basket at the 3:34 mark ended the run but Ironton closed the quarter by outscoring Fairland 10-2 and it was 40-9 at the break.

Ironton hit 11-of-13 field goal attempts in the second quarter and outscored Fairland 23-4 to take an insurmountable 40-9 halftime lead.

For the game, Ironton was 29-of-46 from the field for 63 percent.

Fairland did manage to find a little offense in the third quarter but Ironton continued to build on its lead and went up 57-19.

Ironton continued to extend its lead and the final score was its widest margin.

On Thursday, Ironton visits Gallipolis and Fairland goes to Coal Grove in league games.

Fairland 5 4 10 7 = 26

Ironton 17 23 17 11 = 68

FAIRLAND (2-1, 1-1): Allie Marshall 0 0 0-2 0, Maddy Kazee 0 0 0-0 0, Emily Chapman 1 2 0-0 8, Taylor Perry 2 0 0-2 4, Alesha Simpson 2 1 0-0 7, Kelsie Warnock 0 0 0-0 0, Emma Fulton 1 1 0-2 5, Taylar Wilson 0 0 0-0 0, Morgan Fridley 0 0 0-0 0, Issy McKinney 0 0 0-0 0, Tori Hall 0 0 1-2 1, Jackie Wagner 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 11-45 1-8 26. 3-point goals: 4-21. Rebounds: 8-O, 14-D = 22 (Simpson 5, Warnock 5). Team rebounds: 7. Assists: 3. Steals: 7 (Chapman 3, Kazee 2). Turnovers: 15. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: None.

IRONTON (4-0, 2-0): Jordan Hannan 1 0 1-2 3, Lexie Wise 8 0 2-3 18, Lexie Barrier 5 1 0-1 13, Sydney Webb 3 1 0-1 9, Cheyenne Scott 3 1 2-3 11, D’Laynie Keith 1 0 0-0 2, Zakia Lee 2 0 0-0 4, Kaylin Easterling 0 0 0-0 0, Alyssa Lewis 3 0 2-2 8. Totals: 29-46 7-12 68. 3-point goals: 3-7. Rebounds: 7-O, 32-D = 39 (Barrier 10, Wise 8, Webb 5). Team rebounds: 7. Assists: 10 (Webb 3, Barrier 2, Wise 2, Scott 2). Steals: 9 (Webb 3, Wise 3). Turnovers: 16. Fouls: 10. Fouled out: None.