When opportunity knocked, the Ironton Lady Fighting Tigers failed to answer.

Too many missed scoring opportunities proved to be the deciding factor as Ironton lost 49-45 in overtime to the Chillicothe Lady Cavaliers Saturday in a Southeastern Ohio Athletic League game.

Ironton was just 13 of 43 from the field — 20 of those misses were in the paint — as they shot just 30 percent.

The Lady Tigers compounded their shooting problems with 21 turnovers, 15 coming in quarters one, two and three.

“We didn’t play well. We didn’t shoot the ball well and we got too careless with the ball. We seemed to rush ourselves the whole game,” said Ironton coach Doug Graham.

Ironton (2-1, 0-1) built a 26-17 lead with 2:51 left in the third quarter on a foul shot by Alex Taylor.

But Chillicothe (2-1, 1-0) took advantage of a technical foul to tie the game at 26-26 on a 3-pointer by Monique Lee with 1:02 on the third quarter clock. Ironton went up 28-26 on two foul shots by Lorna Ceaser.

Chillicothe led 38-34 with 39 seconds left on a foul shot by Lee, but Ceaser got a layup off a pass from Brea Tackett. The Lady Tigers tied the game with two seconds to play in regulation as Tackett made a nice pass to Taylor for a layup.

Ceaser hit a foul shot to start the overtime. Chillicothe answered with two foul shots by Whitney Harwood and a three-point play by Mariah Smith that put the lead at 43-39.

Ironton got within two points twice, but the Lady Cavaliers’ Holly Castro-Lemay converted four foul shots to seal the win.

Ceaser had 17 points and 7 rebounds for Ironton. Taylor added 12 points and 10 rebounds while Tackett had 10 points.

Chillicothe 8 7 11 12 11 = 49

Ironton 8 8 12 10 7 = 45

CHILLICOTHE (2-1, 1-0): Holly Castro-Lemay 2 1 4-6 11, Kristen Smith 0 0 0-0 0, Brittany Strawser 1 0 0-0 2, Whitney Harwood 4 0 4-5 13, Monique Lee 1 1 3-5 8, Alyssa Oates 1 0 0-0 2, Mariah Smith 6 0 1-1 13. Totals: 17-46 12-17 45. 3-point goals: 2-6. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: Lee. Rebounds: 7-24=31 (Smith 7, Castro-Lemay 7, Strawser 6). Team rebounds: 3. Assists: 5 (Harwood 2, Strawser 2). Steals: 8 (Lee 2, Strawser 2). Turnovers: 11.

IRONTON (2-1, 0-1): Rebekkah Potter 0 0 0-0 0, Brea Tackett 1 2 2-2 10, Nikki Elswick 1 0 1-2 3, Janie Morris 0 0 3-4 3, Lorna Ceaser 5 0 7-9 17, Alex Taylor 4 0 4-7 12, Emily Lilly 0 0 0-0 0, Emily Davis 0 0 0-0 0, Taylor Lilly 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13-43 16-22 45. 3-point goals: 2-8. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: Ceaser. Rebounds: 13-29=42 (Taylor 10, Ceaser 7, Morris 7, Potter 7). Team rebounds: 4. Assists: 8 (Tackett 4, Morris 3, Elswick 1). Steals: 6 (Tackett 3). Turnovers: 21.

RESERVES: Ironton 34, Chillicothe 24. Ironton scoring leaders: Karlee McMackin 11, Katelyn Adkins 8, Alicia Murphy 7, Emily Davis 6. Chillicothe: Alyssa Oates 7.