Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

The Ironton Lady Fighting Tigers need to hit the fast-forward button.

After another slow start, the Lady Tigers erupted in the second quarter to open up a 17-point halftime lead and beat the Greenup County (Ky.) Lady Musketeers 74-55 on Thursday.

“We started slow and we got in the flow the second quarter,” said Ironton coach Doug Graham. “Murphy had a good half and Ariel was on fire. They’re capable of doing that every night.”

Trailing 18-14 and hitting just 5 of 20 floor shots in the first quarter, Ironton (4-0) connected on 11 of 16 shots in the second quarter and outscored Greenup 26-5 to take a 40-23 lead at the break.

Ariel Schweickart scored 15 of her 20 points in the second quarter including three 3-point goals.

“We helped out a little better the second quarter. We played more as a team. We saw where the open man was,” said Schweickart. “I was just attacking the basket.”

Alicia Murphy also had 20 points for Ironton including the first 7 points of the game. But Greenup (0-4) got hot from the field and made 8 of 14 attempts to take the 18-14 lead.

Schweickart hit a trifecta at the 7:19 mark and then made a layup 23 seconds later and Ironton had the lead for good.

Schweickart’s triple with 3:33 left in the half completed a 16-0 run and put Ironton ahead 30-18.

“I told Ariel whatever she was doing in the second quarter to keep doing it and anything else she could do,” said Graham.

Lexie Barrier converted a 3-point play and Schweickart had the final 5 points of the half including a 3-pointer that gave Ironton a 40-23 halftime cushion.

Murphy scored 9 points in the third quarter to offset 8 points by Greenup’s Sydney Webb who scored 8 points and the lead was 55-39.

Barrier scored 8 points in the fourth quarter as Ironton added to its lead.

“We have eight girls to 10 girls who can play. We try to get it up and down with this group,” said Graham.

Barrier finished with 13 points, 9 rebounds, 4 steals and 3 assists. Karlee McMackin and Lexie Washington had 8 rebounds each as Ironton controlled the boards 48-36.

Destiny Jones scored 14 and Webb 13 for Greenup. Aeryal Burton had 7 rebounds.

Ironton plays at South Point on Monday.

Greenup 18 5 16 16 = 55

Ironton 14 26 15 19 = 74

GREENUP COUNTY (0-5): Erica Steele 1 0 2-3 4, Holly Grizzle 0 0 0-0 0, Sydney Webb 2 3 0-3 13, Aeryal Burton 3 0 1-3 7, Destiny Jones 4 2 0-4 14, Micah Leslie 1 0 2-2 4, Katie Thompson 2 0 0-0 4, Jordan Moore 1 1 0-0 5, Haley Valandingham 1 0 0-0 2. Totals: 22-54 5-15 55. 3-point goals: 6-10. Rebounds: 11-25=36 (Burton 7, Webb 5, Moore 5). Assists: 5 (Steele 2). Team rebounds: 5. Steals: 5 (Webb 3). Turnovers: 18. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: None.

IRONTON (4-0): Lexie Washington 2 0 0-1 4, Lexie Barrier 5 0 3-5 13, Ariel Schweickart 5 3 1-4 20, Karlee McMackin 3 0 0-0 6, Alicia Murphy 6 2 2-2 20, Macy Wise 0 0 1-2 1, Taylor Hannan 0 0 0-2 0, Alana Martin 5 0 0-0 10. Totals: 31-67 7-16 74. 3-point goals: 5-14. Rebounds: 20-28=48 (Barrier 9, McMackin 8, Washington 8, Murphy 6). Team rebounds: 7. Assists: 11 (Barrier 3, McMackin 3, Schweickart 3). Steals: 11 (Barrier 4, Hannan 2). Turnovers: 12. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: None.