PORTSMOUTH — A car engine on a cold morning is hard to start and takes a while to warm up. Once it gets warm, it runs like a top.

The Ironton Lady Fighting Tigers were like that car engine Wednesday. After having trouble starting, Ironton was off and running as the Lady Tigers drove past the Portsmouth Lady Trojans 58-26 in a Southeastern Ohio Athletic League game.

“We struggled early, but Rebekkah Potter his some shots in the first half that got us going and once we got going we just kept clicking,” said Ironton coach Doug Graham.

Neither team scored until Potter hit a 17-footer at the 3:51 mark to put Ironton up 2-0. Portsmouth tied the game 24 seconds later on a layup by Lataysha McGinnis, but a putback by Lorna Ceaser triggered a 7-0 run to end the quarter and it was 9-2.

The Lady Trojans got within 9-8 on a short jumper by Hannah Foster with 5:33 left in the half.

But Brea Tackett drained a trifecta, Potter hit a couple of outside shots and Nikki Elswick had two layups as Ironton pulled away to a 23-10 halftime lead.

The Lady Fighting Tigers (5-1, 3-1) kept their engine running on high octane in the third quarter.

McGinnis made a layup to start the half, but Elswick scored inside and Tackett hit from behind the arc as Ironton ran off 13 unanswered points capped by a three-point play by Ceaser to make it 36-12.

Portsmouth (1-6, 0-3) ran off six straight points, but Alex Taylor converted a three-point play and Elswick came up with a steal and layup just before the buzzer and it was 41-18.

“Our offense was slow to get started, but defensively we did a pretty good job for the most part the whole game,” said Graham.

A layup and a free throw by Emily Lilly gave Ironton its biggest lead of the game at 57-24 with 35 seconds to play.

Tackett finished with 16 points four steals and three assists. Elswick had 12 points and 12 rebounds while Potter added 11 points, four assists and three steals.

Ironton hosts North Adams at noon Saturday.

Ironton 9 14 18 17 = 58

Portsmouth 2 8 8 8 = 26

IRONTON (5-1, 3-1): Rebekkah Potter 5 0 1-2 11, Alex Taylor 2 0 2-5 6, Brea Tackett 3 3 1-2 16, Lorna Ceaser 3 0 3-3 9, Nikki Elswick 6 0 0-0 12, Emily Lilly 1 0 2-4 4, Emily Davis 0 0 0-0 0, Taylor Lilly 0 0 0-0 0, Alisha Murphy 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 23-45 9-16 58. 3-point goals: 3-7. Fouls: 9. Fouled out: Ceaser (4th 4:11). Rebounds: 10-23=33 (Elswick 12, Taylor 7, Ceaser 7). Team rebounds: 3. Assists: 13 (Potter 4, Tackett 3). Steals: 13 (Tackett 4, Elswick 3, Taylor 3, Potter 3). Turnovers: 15.

PORTSMOUTH (1-6, 0-3): Ashleigh Link 1 0 2-2 4, Hannah Foster 2 0 2-2 6, Dasta Kennedy 1 0 1-2 3, Ri-chel McGraw 0 0 0-0 0, Lataysha McGinnis 4 0 0-1 8, Caitlyn Rodriguez 2 0 1-2 5, Ruthie Stanley 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 10-38 6-9 26. 3-point goals: 0-8. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 7-15=22 (McGinnis 5, Rodriguez 4). Team rebounds: 3. Assists: 2 (Foster 2). Steals: 8 (McGinnis 3, Foster 2, Kennedy 2). Turnovers: 20.