FLATWOODS, Ky. -- After being off for more than a week, the Ironton Lady Fighting Tigers sort of skipped the first half as well Monday.

But the Lady Tigers went back to work the second half as they rallied to post a 64-46 win over the Russell Lady Red Devils.

Ironton trailed 26-23 at the break, then outscored Russell 41-20 the second half.

"The first half you could tell we had been off for nine days. The second half we really picked it up. Candace played awesome the second half," Ironton coach Amy Hughes said.

Ferguson scored 18 of her 27 points in the second half. She also had 13 rebounds and three assists.

Andrea Rudmann had 16 points, seven assists and five rebounds while Sara Hacker got 14 points, seven rebounds and three steals for Ironton (11-3).

"It's a good win on the road and it was nice to play again. Rudy played well and had a lot of good passes. But we passed the ball well as a team. We're looking for the open man and showing patience on offense," Hughes said.

Kala Faulkner scored 26 points and Britt Faulkner 13 to lead Russell.

Ferguson and Hacker combined for 10 points to offset 12 points by Kala Faulkner as Ironton went up 15-14.

But Russell came back to take the lead at the half as Ironton scored just 8 points.

The Lady Tigers returned the favor by holding Russell to 6 points the third quarter. Hacker scored 7 points, Ferguson 6 and Rudmann 5 as Ironton took a 41-32 lead.

"We showed some guts. We came out the second half and played great defense. We held them to 6 points, so that showed how well we concentrated on defense," Hughes said.

"Russell has a nice team. They are really quick. (Ashley) Hannon only scored two, but she and Rachel (Wylie) and Rudy are just so valuable against the press."

Ferguson scored 12 points and Rudmann 7 in the fourth quarter as Ironton continued to pull away.

In the reserve game, Rachael Payne's basket with five seconds left gave Ironton a 35-33 win. Danielle Henderson scored 10 points and Ali Markins 9 to lead the Lady Tigers.

Ironton1581823--64

Russell1412614--46

IRONTON (11-3):

Andrea Rudmann 3 1 7-8

16, Ashley Hannon 1 0 0-0 2, Sarah Cartmell 0 0 2-2 2, Rachel Wylie 0 0 3-4 3, Candace Ferguson 11

0

5-9

27, Sara Hacker 3 2 2-3 14, Danielle Henderson 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 18

3

19-25

64. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: Hannon. Rebounds: 28 (Ferguson 13, Hacker 7, Rudmann 5). Assists: 15 (Rudmann 7, Ferguson 3). Steals: 7 (Hacker 3, Hannon 2).

RUSSELL (na):

Kala Faulkner 6 2

8-9 26, Corey Huston 1 0 0-0 2, Chinwe Okoro 2 0 1-2 5, Britt Faulkner 3 2 1-2 13, Brittany Hensley 0 0 0-0 0, Renee Grissle 0 0 0-0 0, C. Daniels 0 0 0-0 0, Jessica Turner 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 12

4

10-13

46. Fouls: 17. Fouled out: None.