If Doug Graham ever decides to quit coaching, he could get a job for the Tri-State Transit Authority scheduling shuttle buses.

With a flu ravaging Ironton High School and infecting players for both the boys and girls teams, Graham was faced with trying to win the Division III sectional tournament not knowing what his players could do.

Graham rotated players in and out the entire game and the result was effective as the Ironton Lady Fighting Tigers beat the Chesapeake Lady Panthers 49-29 on Saturday.

“We had to run them in and out to keep them strong enough to play. Out of the 15 girls on the team, at least 10 are sick, getting sick, or starting to get over being sick,” said Graham.

Lorna Ceaser, who was one of the players recovering, had 15 points and six rebounds while Mercedes Crockrel had 14 points to go with 10 rebounds and three steals.

Sarah Mayo had 12 points and two steals for Chesapeake.

Chesapeake coach Sammy Gue said Ironton’s athleticism created a lot of problems for his team defensively and on the boards.

“It was a match-up problem, but the main problem was that too many times we didn’t have backside help and we couldn’t keep them off the boards. They dominated us in there,” said Gue.

Ironton won the battle of the boards 37-to-17 including 16 offensive rebounds to just six for Chesapeake.

Ironton (15-6) will now play at 1:45 p.m. Saturday at the Waverly downtown arena in the district semifinals.

Chesapeake (12-9) not only ended its season, but Gue will step down as coach due to time conflicts with his job as a principal in the school system.

“This is a great group to wok with. They always seem to be positive and they always play hard,” said Gue. “Defensively as a team we need to improve, but this group works hard and they’ll improve.”

After Ironton jumped out to a 10-4 lead, Mayo hit a 3-pointer and Cassie Rucker had a layup to get the Panthers within 12-9 at the end of the first quarter.

Ironton’s defense held the Lady Panthers to just five points in the second quarter and four in the third and built a 34-18 lead.

A steal and layup by Mayo had Chesapeake down 17-14 with 5:22 left in the half, but a layup by Crockrel, three points by Janie Morris, a putback by Alex Taylor and two foul shots by Crockrel ended the half and it was 26-14.

Four different players scored in the third quarter as Ironton outscored Chesapeake 8-to4.

The Lady Fighting Tigers led by as many as 21 points in the fourth quarter before Graham began to empty his bench.

Chesapeake 9 5 4 11 = 29

Ironton 12 14 8 15 = 49

CHESAPEAKE (12-9): Sarah Mayo 1 2 4-4 12, Amanda Ruffner 2 0 0-4 4, Allison Chapman 1 0 1-2 3, Paige Nelson 0 0 0-0 0, Kimmie Bennett 1 0 1-2 3, Cassie Rucker 2 0 0-1 4, Sara Rice 0 0 1-2 1, Maggie Smith 0 0 0-2 0, Ashley Jenkins 1 0 0-0 2, Casey Underwood 0 0 0-0 0, Ashlee Miller 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 10-30 7-17 29. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: None. 3-point goals: 2-9. Rebounds: 6-11=17 (Mayo 4, Ruffner 4). Team/deadball rebounds: 1. Assists: 4 (Nelson 2). Steals: 2 (Mayo 2). Turnovers: 17.

IRONTON (15-6): Mercedes Crockrel 6 0 2-2 14, Alex Taylor 4 0 1-2 9, Brea Tackett 2 0 0-0 4, Janie Morris 1 0 1-2 3, Lorna Ceaser 4 0 7-9 15, Cortney Rister 0 0 0-0 0, Emily Lilly 0 0 0-0 0, Nikki Elswick 1 0 0-0 2, Arden Sparks 1 0 0-0 0, Emily Davis 0 0 0-0 0, Taylor Lilly 0 0 0-0 0, Colleen Walker 0 0 0-0 0, Shannon Walker 0 0 0-0 0,Tori Klaiber 0 0 0-0 0, Sara Linn 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 19-47 11-15 49. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: None. 3-point goals: 0-7. Rebounds: 16-21`=37 (Crockrel 10, Ceaser 6, Taylor 6). Team/deadball rebounds: 1. Assists: 10 (Taylor 3, Tackett 3, Morris 2, Crockrel 1, S. Walker 1). Steals: 7 (Crockrel 3, Morris 3, Taylor 1). Turnovers: 11.