Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

LUCASVILLE — The only real battle going on during the Division 3 sectional tournament game Wednesday was whether Ironton’s Lexie Arden was going to outscore the entire West Union team.
When Arden sat down early in the third quarter for the rest of the game, West Union was able to surpass her total points. But it was little consolation as Arden scored 28 points to lead the Lady Fighting Tigers to a lopsided 71-29 over the Lady Dragons.
Not only did Arden knocked down six 3-point goals and score 28 points, she reached a personal milestone with her 1,000th career point when she hit her fourth trifecta in the first quarter.
Samantha LaFon scored 12 points and both Elli Williams and Isabel Morgan had 10 points as four players reached double figures as Ironton got its 20th win of the season.
Alexa Rowe scored 18 points to lead West Union (2-21).
Arden made four 3-pointers and scored 16 points while LaFon had 7 points and Ironton took a 19-12 lead.
Rowe have 5 points as she and Christian Shivener each hit 3-pointers for West Union.
In the second quarter, Arden had two more trifectas and scored 10 points, Elli Williams made two 3-pointers and scored 8 points and Evan Williams, LaFon scored 5 points and Evan Williams added 4 points as the lead ballooned to 55-14 at intermission.
Evan Williams scored 4 of Ironton’s 8 points in the third quarter and the lead was 63-22.
Isabel Morgan hit two 3-pointers and scored 8 points off the bench in the fourth quarter for the Lady Tigers.
Rowe scored all 7 points for West Union in the quarter.
Arden is the 13th player to score 1,000 points for Ironton. She now has 1,017 and trails Mandi Boykin by one point and Lexi Wise by two points.
NEXT UP: Ironton plays New Lexington at 6:15 p.m. Saturday in the sectional finals. New Lexington beat Minford 62-53.
West Union 12 2 8 7 = 29
Ironton 25 30 8 8 = 71
WEST UNION (2-21): Kendra Grooms 1 0 0-0 2, Maddie Taylor 1 0 0-0 2, Savannah McDowell 0 0 0-0 0, Molly Purcell 0 0 0-0 0, Kaitlin Davis 0 0 0-0 0, Christian Shivener 1 1 0-0 5, Alexa Rowe 3 4 0-0 18, Kayden Francis 1 0 0-0 2, Audrey Weakley 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 7 5 0-0 20. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: None.
IRONTON (20-3): Samantha LaFon 5 0 2-4 12, Lydia Hannan 0 0 0-1 0, Teegan Carpenter 0 0 1-2 1, Elli Williams 1 2 2-2 10, Katelyn Cecil 0 0 0-0 0, Kirsten Williams 0 0 0-0 0, Isabel Morgan 2 2 0-1 10, Evan Williams 5 0 0-0 10, Abbie Patterson 0 0 0-0 0, Shalyleigh Carmon 0 0 0-0 0, Lexie Arden 5 6 0-0 28. Totals: 18 10 5-9 71. Fouls: 3. Fouled out: None.