Attack!

The Ironton Lady Fighting Tigers used an aggressive approach to trigger a 63-35 win over the Portsmouth Lady Trojans Wednesday in a Southeastern Ohio Athletic League game.

“We played aggressive on both ends of the floor and with a lot of intensity,” said Ironton coach Doug Graham. “We wanted to initiate the tempo instead of sitting back and following their lead.”

The Lady Fighting Tigers raced to a 13-0 lead and never looked back as they improved to 9-5 overall and 5-3 in the league. Ironton never trailed and led by as many as 32 points.

Lorna Ceaser had 16 points while Janie Morris had 13 points, eight rebounds and two steals to lead Ironton. Nikki Elswick scored 9 points off the bench and pulled eight rebounds while also grabbing three steals.

Brea Tackett and Alex Taylor added 8 points each. Taylor also had five assists and Rebekkah Potter four as Ironton handed out 14 as a team.

“We passed the ball as well as we have all season. The girls did a great job getting the ball to the open man,” said Graham.

Hannah Foster scored 16 points — 14 in the second half — to lead Portsmouth (1-10, 0-7). Lataysha McGinnis had 10 rebounds.

Morris hit from the baseline to start the game and Tackett turned a steal into a layup to complete the 13-0 run.

Portsmouth scored at the 1:58 mark on a layup by McGinnis. Taylor hit a 17-footer with two seconds left in the quarter and it was 18-6.

Ashleigh Link made two foul shots to start the second quarter with 7:24 on the clock, but Ceaser and Morris combined for 10 points as Ironton scored 12 unanswered points to go up 30-8.

The Lady Trojans didn’t score again until Cailyn Rodriguez hit the first of two foul shots with 2:48 left in the half.

Taylor did an instant replay of the first quarter as she knocked down a 15-footer at the buzzer and Ironton had built a 36-15 lead at the half.

Foster hit a 3-pointer at the 6:14 mark of the third quarter to make it 38-18, but Portsmouth could get no closer the rest of the game.

Ceaser hit back-to-back layups to end the quarter and give Ironton a 54-25 lead.

Graham emptied his bench in the fourth quarter and Ironton took its biggest lead of the game at 63-31 with 2:57 left on a 15-footer by Taylor Lilly.

Portsmouth 6 9 10 10 = 35

Ironton 18 18 18 9 = 63

PORTSMOUTH (1-10, 0-7): Ashleigh Link 10 4-4 6, Hannah Foster 5 2 0-0 16, Dasia Kennedy 0 0 0-0 0, Lataysha McGinnis 2 0 2-7 6, Ruthie Stanley 1 0 0-0 2, Cailyn Rodriguez 2 0 1-7 5, Maggie Sturgill 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13-51 7-18 35. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: Kennedy (4th 0:38). 3-point goals: 2-8. Rebounds: 14 offense, 18 defense = 32 (McGinnis 10, Link 8). Team rebounds: 5. Assists: 4 (Foster 2). Steals: 6 (Link 2, Foster 2). Turnovers: 16.

IRONTON (9-5, 5-3): Rebekkah Potter 1 0 1-2 3, Alex Taylor 4 0 0-0 8, Brea Tackett 3 0 2-2 8, Janie Morris 6 0 1-1 13, Lorna Ceaser 6 0 4-5 16, Nikki Elswick 4 0 1-5 9, Emily Lilly 2 0 0-0 4, Taylor Lilly 1 0 0-0 2, Emily Davis 0 0 0-0 0, Torie Klaiber 0 0 0-0 0, Katelyn Adkins 0 0 0-0 0, Ariel Schweickart 0 0 0-0 0, Karlee McMackin 0 0 0-0 0, Alisha Murphy 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 27-61 9-15 63. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: None. 3-point goals: 0-8. Rebounds: 14 offense, 30 defense = 44 (Elswick 8, Morris 8, Potter 6). Team rebounds: 3. Assists: 14 (Taylor 5, Potter 4). Steals: 11 (Elswick 3, Morris 2). Turnovers: 12.

RESERVES: Ironton 24-4.