By JIM WALKER

Tribune Sports Editor

Now, that’s what I mean by “team effort.”

The Ironton Lady Fighting Tigers are generally led by seniors Nikki Elswick and Alex Taylor, but lately they’ve been getting help from their younger teammates.

Ironton used a team effort Thursday to roll past the Portsmouth Lady Trojans 50-27 at the Sports Center.

“Nikki and Alex always give us a good effort and they did again,” said Ironton coach Doug Graham. “But the thing that I was most pleased with was the play of the other girls. They’re starting to step up and be more aggressive. They’re contributing more.”

Elswick finished with 18 points, seven rebounds and six blocked shots while Taylor had eight points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals.

But starters Alicia Murphy, Karlee McMackin and Ariel Schweickart combined for 12 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Emily Davis came off the bench for five rebounds and three assists.

All three starters are sophomores and Davis is a junior.

Tasha McGinnis and Ri-chiel McGraw scored nine points each for Portsmouth (2-8).

The game started slow with the score tied three times in the first quarter before Ironton took a 10-8 lead on a 15-footer by McMackin to end the first quarter.

Elswick scored Ironton’s first six points of the second quarter and 12-footers by Murphy and Taylor opened up a 20-10 lead.

A layup by Torie Klaiber off a pass from Davis gave Ironton its biggest lead of the half at 24-12. McGraw made two foul shots and it was 24-14 at the break.

Elswick drained a trey at the start of the second half as Ironton went on a 9-0 run and it was 33-14.

Kaitlyn Adkins’ layup with three seconds left in the quarter put Ironton up 42-22.

The Lady Fighting Tigers (8-2) scored six unanswered points to begin the fourth quarter to take a 48-22 lead.

Portsmouth didn’t scored until a 3-point play by Tasha McGinnis at the 2:31 mark.

The Lady Fighting Tigers were 22 of 42 from the floor for 52 percent while holding Portsmouth to a mere 10 of 51 from the field or 19.6 percent.

“We played well defensively. We contested every shot,” said Graham. “I wasn’t happy with our rebounding. We got a little lazy, especially keeping them off the offensive boards. You can bet we’ll be working on that the next few days.”

Ironton plays at Chillicothe Zane Trace Monday.

Portsmouth 8 6 8 5 = 27

Ironton 10 14 18 8 = 50

PORTSMOUTH (2-7): Dasia Kennedy 0 0 0-0 0, Hannah Foster 1 1 0-0 5, Ri-chiel McGraw 3 0 3-5 9, Shanice Rollins 1 0 0-0 2, Tasha McGinnis 4 0 1-1 9, Maggie Sturgill 0 0 0-0 0, Tyler Mallory 0 0 2-2 2, Izzie Sturgill 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 10-51 6-8 27. Fouls: 9. Fouled out: None. 3-point goals: 1-9. Rebounds: 16 offense, 13 defense = 29 (McGraw 6). Team/deadball rebounds: 8. Assists: 4 (Kennedy 2). Steals: 1 (Foster). Turnovers: 9.

IRONTON (8-2): Alex Taylor 4 0 0-2 8, Nikki Elswick 6 1 3-5 18, Ariel Schweickart 1 0 2-2 4, Karlee McMackin 2 0 0-0 4, Alicia Murphy 4 0 0-0 8, Torie Klaiber 2 0 0-0 4, Emily Davis 1 0 0-0 2, Kaitlyn Adkins 1 0 0-0 2, Taitlyn Duty 0 0 0-0 0, Saige Fields 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 22-42 5-9 50. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: None. 3-point goals: 1-2. Rebounds: 7 offense, 27 defense = 34 (Elswick 7, Taylor 7, Davis 5). Team/deadball rebounds: 2. Assists: 12 (Taylor 4, Davis 3). Steals: 7 (Taylor 3). Turnovers: 10. Blocked shots: Elswick 6.