WAVERLY — Looking at the Ironton Lady Fighting Tigers’ numbers, coach Doug Graham saw 24 turnovers and 14 missed foul shots.

There was another set of numbers, too, belonging to the Alexander Lady Spartans. They read 23 turnovers and 12-of-56 shooting from the field including just 1-of-16 from behind the arc.

When the numbers were crunched, the only numbers that mattered were a 52-37 win by the Lady Tigers on Saturday in the Division III district semifinals.

“If you would have told me we would have 24 turnovers and missed 14 foul shots, I would have told you we were picking up uniforms on Monday,” said Graham.

“But those numbers are somewhat misleading. Our defense forced them to shoot from the outside and they like to shoot everything from the paint. We played pretty good defense and made the free throws when we needed.”

Alexander (18-4) was forced to foul once they found themselves down 42-33 with 2:16 left after two foul shots by Ironton’s Janie Morris. The Lady Tigers paraeded to the line 12 times the rest of the game and converted eight times.

The Lady Spartans kept firing 3-point attempts and were 0-for-11 and 3-of-21 overall in the quarter.

The key numbers for Ironton’s offense belonged to senior Mercedes Crockrel who had 24 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and three steals as the Lady Fighting Tigers advanced to the district final next Saturday at Ohio University against Zane Trace at 7 p.m.

“I knew I was scoring but I didn’t know I had so many boards,” said Crockrel. “I felt I had to do more on the boards. I wanted to win this game. We knew they were a good team.”

After Ironton went up 8-2 to start the game, Alexander closed to 12-10 at the end of the quarter.

Ironton (16-6) Lead 23-14 with 2:40 left in the first half after a layup by Lorna Ceaser, but costly turnovers enabled Alexander to creep back to within 24-21 when Whitney Smith hit a 17-footer at the buzzer.

The Lady Tigers defense took over in the second half as Alexander was only 1-of-11 from the field in the third quarter.

Offensively, Crockrel took charge as she converted two technical foul shots and then made two straight layups and Ironton had its biggest lead to date at 39-24.

The Lady Spartans managed to get within 40-33 with 2:49 to play, but that’s when they began to foul and Ironton settled the issued with its foul shooting.

Ironton 12 12 15 13 = 52

Alexander 10 11 5 11 = 37

IRONTON (16-6): Mercedes Crockrel 8 0 8-11 24, Alex Taylor 1 0 2-4 4, Brea Tackett 1 1 1-4 6, Janie Morris 4 0 4-6 12, Lorna Ceaser 1 0 1-5 3, Cortney Rister 0 0 0-0 0, Emily Lilly 0 0 3-4 3, Nikki Elswick 0 0 0-0 0, Emily David 0 0 0-0 0, Taylor Lilly 0 0 0-0 0, Tori Klaiber 0 0 0-0 0, Sara Linn 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16-29 20-34 52. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: Morris (4th 1:53). 3-point goals: 1-2. Rebounds: 2 offense, 30 defense = 32 (Crockrel 10, Ceaser 8, Taylor 5, Morris 5). Team/deadball rebounds: 2. Assists: 7 (Crockrel 4, Tackett 2). Steals: 8 (Crockrel 3, Morris 2). Turnovers: 24

ALEXANDER (18-4): Whitney Smith 3 1 5-10 14, Lauren Raines 2 0 1-2 5, Heather McClain 2 0 3-34 7, Morgan Grinstead 0 0 1-2 1, Julie Els 0 0 0-0 0, Whitney Daughtery 2 0 3-4 7, Emily Skidmore 0 0 0-0 0, Kaitlyn Guthrie 1 0 1-2 3. Totals: 12-56 12-22 37. Fouls: 26. Fouled out: Doughtery (4th 0:16,), McClain (4th 2:59). 3-point goals: 1-16. Rebounds: 17 offensive, 21 defensive = 38 (Smith 17, McClain 5). Assists: 1 (McClain). Stels: 9 Raines 3, Smith 3). Turnovers: 23.