By JIM WALKER

Tribune Sports Editor

The Ironton Lady Fighting Tigers should do well in a yo-yo contest.

The Lady Tigers kept opening up a big lead, then watching it shrink before building it back up as they beat the Gallipolis Blue Angels 53-42 Thursday on senior night.

“We just can’t put teams away for whatever reason,” said Ironton coach Doug Graham. “We missed enough layups to score another 20 points or more. I don’t know what it is, but we just go up and down offensively.”

Seniors Nikki Elswick and Alex Taylor gave strong performances in their final home game. Elswick had 25 points and 18 rebounds while Taylor finished with seven points, nine rebounds, four assists and two steals.

“I thought Elswick played really well and Alex played well although I thought getting in foul trouble kind of hurt her game,” said Graham.

Ironton jumped out in front 5-0 despite missing three layups. Gallipolis came back to tie the game at 8-8 on a 15-footer by Tara Young.

Ironton got two free throws from Alicia Murphy and a 17-footer by Karlee McMackin only to have Samantha Barnes make a layup for the Blue Angels to get within 12-10.

Ironton went on a 7-0 run to start the second quarter and went up 28-18 at the half on a 15-footer by Nikki Elswick with 1:17 on the clock.

Tw foul shots by Alex Taylor and a layup by Elswick off a pass from Taylor gave Ironton its biggest lead at 36-21 with 5:13 left in the third quarter.

Heather Ward hit a 17-footer and Mattie Lanham drove for a breakaway layup with eight seconds left as Gallipolis got within 42-32 at the end of the quarter.

A free throw by Morgan Daniels with 5:07 to play got Gallipolis within 45-37, but two foul shots by Elswick and a layup by Taylor opened up a 52-39 lead and the Lady Tigers coasted the final three minutes.

McMackin added five rebounds for Ironton (13-7) and Emily Davis had eight points and two assists starting in place of Alicia Murphy who missed the past two days due to illness.

Ironton shot just 39 percent from the field but dominated the boards 40-25.

Gallipolis (5-14) was led by Young with 10 points and Lanham added nine. Haley Rosier had nine rebounds and Daniels grabbed eight.

Gallipolis 10 8 14 10 = 42

Ironton 12 16 14 11 = 53

GALLIPOLIS (5-14): Samantha Barnes 1 0 0-1 2, Haley Rosier 0 0 1-2 1, Tara Young 1 1 5-6 10, Mattie Lanham 3 1 0-0 9, Morgan Daniels 2 0 3-5 7, Heather Ward 3 0 3-3 9, Halley Barnes 2 0 0-0 4. Totals: 14-46 12-17 42. Fouls: 17. Fouled out: None. 3-point goals: 2-9. Rebounds: 9 offense, 16 defense = 25 (Rosier 9, Daniels 8). Team/deadball rebounds: 3. Assists: 9 (S. Barnes 4). Steals: 7 (Rosier 3, Ward 2). Turnovers: 14.

IRONTON (13-7): Alex Taylor 2 0 3-4 7, Nikki Elswick 7 1 8-10 25, Ariel Schweickart 1 1 1-2 6, Karlee McMackin 2 0 0-0 4, Alicia Murphy 0 0 3-4 3, Emily Davis 3 0 2-2 8, Kaitlyn Adkins 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17-43 17-22 53. Fouls: 17. Fouled out: None. 3-point goals: 2-4. Rebounds: 12 offense, 28 defense = 40 (Elswick 18, Taylor 9, McMackin 5). Team/deadball rebounds: 3. Assists: 7 (Taylor 4, Davis 2). Steals: 4 (Taylor 2). Turnovers: 18.