Amy Hughes had something to say, and her Ironton Lady Fighting Tigers listened.

Trailing at halftime, Hughes gave her team a tongue-lashing. The players responded with a big third quarter and they went on to beat the Portsmouth Lady Trojans 57-54 Thursday.

Ironton was down 25-24 at the break. After Hughes' pep talk, the Lady Tigers outscored Portsmouth 25-14 in the third quarter to go up 49-39.

"I got on them pretty good at halftime and they responded. I usually don't say that much to them at the half," Ironton coach Amy Hughes said.

Candace Ferguson scored 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the Lady Tigers (9-3). Andrea Rudmann scored 13 points while Sara Hacker had 9 points, 12 rebounds, and handed out four assists.

"I thought Rudy (Rudmann) and Candace stepped up, and Rudy did a good job defensively. She had a lot of steals. That was her best game defensively," Hughes said.

"Ferguson and Hacker controlled the boards again. Rachel Wylie played a very smart game. She didn't have big numbers, but she made those little plays that don't show up in the scoring column."

Rudmann scored 10 of her points in the third quarter including two 3-pointers, and Ferguson and Wylie had 6 points each as Ironton scored 25 points.

Ali Hull scored 20 points and Tonya McKenzie 15 to lead Portsmouth.

In the reserve game, Ironton (5-5) won 42-13 as Ali Markins and Tenneille Young scored 13 points each.

Portsmouth12131415--54

Ironton1212258--57

PORTSMOUTH:

Brya Coleman 2 2 0-0 10, Tonya McKenzie 4 2 1-2 15, Sarah Barney 2 1 2-3 9, Ali Hull 6 0 8-9 20, Faren Block 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14

5

11-14

54. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: None. Turnovers: 9.

IRONTON (9-3):

Andrea Rudmann 2 3 0-0 13, Ashley Hannon 2 0 0-1 4, Rachel Wylie 3 0 2-2 8, Candace Ferguson 9 0 1-4 19, Sara Hacker 1 2 1-2 9, Sarah Cartmell 0 0 0-0 0, Danielle Henderson 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 19

5

4-9

57. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 36 (Hacker 12, Ferguson 10). Assists: 15 (Hannon 5, Hacker 4, Ferguson 3). Steals: 12 (Rudmann 5, Hannon 3, Wylie 3). Turnovers: 13.