PORTSMOUTH — Less than a minute into Saturday afternoon’s game, Ironton coach Doug Graham must have remembered to put up a “No Loitering” sign on the basketball court.

The Portsmouth Lady Trojans got two quick baskets by Lataysha McGinnis to lead 4-0 with 7:08 on the clock.

Graham called a timeout to scold the lackluster effort of the Lady Fighting Tigers.

The 10-second outburst must have found its target as Ironton outscored Portsmouth the rest of the half 40-to-6 and went on to an easy 68-31 rout in a Southeastern Ohio Athletic League game.

“We came out flat and didn’t have any intensity,” said Graham. “Once we got going, we played pretty well. Offensively we were very unselfish and really played well on defense.”

After scoring 55 points in the first two games of the season, Mercedes Crockrel had just 10 points but dished out 10 assists as all five starters reached double figures.

Crockrel also sparked the defense with six steals as Ironton generated 22 steals and forced Portsmouth into 29 turnovers.

The Lady Trojans had 17 turnovers the first half and managed to get off just eight field goal attempts.

Besides Crockrel, Alex Taylor had 15 points, six rebounds and three steals. Lorna Ceaser also had 15 points to go with five rebounds. Janie Morris had 10 points, five rebounds and three assists while Brea Tackett got 12 points, five rebounds and five steals.

Down 4-0 Ironton went on a 14-0 run and it was 16-6 at the end of the first quarter.

Portsmouth managed to shoot just 1-of-2 from the field in the second quarter due mainly to nine turnovers in the quarter.

The Lady Tigers outscored Portsmouth 16-to-1 during a five-minute stretch and built an insurmountable 40-10 lead at the half. The lead was 57-15 after three quarters.

Ironton hosts Jackson on Tuesday.

McGinnis had 11 points for Portsmouth (0-2, 0-1).

Ironton 16 24 17 11 = 68

Portsmouth 6 4 5 16 = 31

IRONTON (3-0, 1-0): Mercedes Crockrel 4 0 2-2 10, Alex Taylor 7 0 1-2 15, Brea Tacketet 4 1 1-2 12, Janie Morris 3 1 1-2 10, Lorna Ceaser 6 0 3-7 15, Cortney Rister 2 0 0-0 4, Emily Lilly 1 0 0-0 2, Arden Sparks 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 29-56 8-15 68. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: None. 3-point goals: 2-5. Rebounds: 17-12=29 (Taylor 6, Crockrel 5, Tackett 5, Morris 5, Ceaser 5). Team/deadball rebounds: 2. Assists: 15 (Crockrel 10). Steals: 22 (Crockrel 6, Tackett 5, Ceaser 4). Turnovers: 11.

PORTSMOUITH (0-2, 0-1): Ashleigh Link 1 0 3-6 5, Kasey Simpson 0 0 0-0 0, Ri-chiel McGraw 3 0 0-0 6, Lataysha McGinnis 5 0 1-3 11, Ruthie Stanley 0 0 0-0 0, Shanyce Rollins 3 0 1-2 7, Katherine Gilbert 0 0 0-0 0, Shae Cartee 0 0 0-0 0

Leda Daehler 1 0 0-0 2, Caitlin Barker 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13-31 5-11 31. Fouls: 8. Fouled out: None. 3-point goals: 0-1. Rebounds: 9-9=18 (Link 5, McGinnis 5). Team/deadball rebounds: 3. Assists: 2. Steals: 1. Turnovers: 29.