Ironton’s defense took care of the Portsmouth offense. Jessica Waddle took care of the Ironton offense.

Waddle scored a career-high 34 points including six 3-pointers and the defense limited Portsmouth to 29.7 percent field goal shooting as the Lady Fighting Tigers rolled past the Lady Trojans 66-36 in the Southeastern Ohio Athletic League opener.

“I thought we played pretty good defense. We did a better job on the boards, too. We weren’t letting them get a lot of second shots,” Ironton coach Doug Graham said.

Portsmouth had just 19 rebounds and six on the offensive end.

Besides Waddle’s 34 points, Mandi Boykin had 11 points, five assists and four rebounds. Kayla Wileman added 10 points and Mercedes Crockrel had six rebounds.

Jennifer Bendolph led Portsmouth (1-3) with 19 points.

The Lady Trojans took a 2-0 lead on a pair of foul shots by Bendolph to start the game, but Ironton went on an 8-0 run and never trailed again.

Waddle scored 6 points in the quarter and it was 15-6.

In the second quarter, Boykin drained a 3-pointer and Waddle knocked down three trifectas including one with four seconds on the clock and it was 35-18 at the half.

The defense picked up again in the third quarter as Ironton held Portsmouth to 5 points and Waddle scored 10 more points and the Lady Fighting Tigers had built a 53-23 cushion.

A layup by Boykin with 4:40 to play gave Ironton’s its biggest lead at 60-29 and Ironton’s second team played most of the fourth quarter.

“It was good to win that first league game, but we’ve got a tough one coming up,” Graham said.

Ironton will host SEOAL favorite Marietta on Friday.

Portsmouth612513=36

Ironton15201813=66

PORTSMOUTH (1-3): Janae LaGrange 2 0 0-0 4, Magge Colley 1 0 1-2 3, Brittany Stanley 0 0 3-8 3, Sydney Jordan 1 0 0-0 2, Jennifer Bendolph 4 2 5-6 19, Ashley Link 0 0 2-2 2, Trista Wilson 0 0 0-0 0, Missy Stelwagon 0 0 0-0 0, Rebecca Kristian 0 0 0-4 0, Cassie Taylor 1 0 1-1 3, Taylor Cooper 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 11-37

(5) 12-23

36. Fouls: 7. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 6-13=19 (Jordan 6, Stanley 5). Team rebounds: 6. Assists: 1. Steals 2 (Colley 2). Turnovers: 19.

IRONTON (2-0): Jessica Waddle 6 6 4-4 34, Mercedes Crockrel 2 0 1-1 5, Kayla Wileman 5 0 0-1 10, Mandi Boykin 4 1 2-2 11, Rachel Walker 1 0 0-0 2, Jessica Weaver 1 0 0-0 2, Michelle Pancake 1 0 0-0 2, Ashley Moritz 0 0 0-0 0, Sami Morgan 0 0 0-0 0, Brea Tackett 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 26-52

(7-15)

7-8

66. Fouls: 20. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 13-15=28 (Crockrel 6, Weaver 5, Boykin 4). Team rebounds: 7. Assists: 11 (Boykin 5). Steals: 8 (Waddle 3). Turnovers: 11.

RESERVES: Ironton 37, Portsmouth 14. Ironton: Janie Morris 8, Sami Morgan 6, Lorna Ceasar 6. Portsmouth: Ashleigh Link 6.