By JIM WALKER

Tribune Sports Editor

 

There are always peaks and valleys of emotion on senior night, and thus was the case Thursday for Ironton Lady Fighting Tigers’ senior Emily Davis.

Unfortunately, those same peaks and valleys plagued the play of the Lady Tigers in a 55-41 loss to the Huntington High Lady Highlanders.

“We played well in spurts but we weren’t consistent and you can’t do that against a good team like Huntington,” said Ironton coach Doug Graham.

“We missed a lot of shots around the basket and we gave up some second shot baskets when we didn’t block out. We had our chances and we didn’t take advantage of them.”

Ironton took the lead midway through the first quarter and kept it until the third quarter. The Lady Tigers fell behind by as many as 13 points in the fourth quarter, then got within 6 for a final run by the Highlanders cemented the outcome.

Huntington (15-6) was led by Kiana Evans with 28 points and 14 rebounds. Abby Steele added 11 points.

Ironton (5-15) was led by Alicia Murphy and Ariel Schweickart with 10 points and 5 rebounds each. Lexy Washington had 9 points and 10 rebounds and Karlee McMackin grabbed 7 rebounds.

Huntington was up 7-3 when Murphy hit a 3-pointer and a 15-footer for the lead. Davis drained a 12-footer to give Ironton a 10-7 lead at the two-minute mark.

A steal and layup by Schweickart and another 3-pointer by Murphy gave Ironton a 15-8 lead with 6:30 left in the half.

Saige Fields hit a 3-pointer with 29 seconds left to give the Lady Tigers a 22-18 lead but Evans threw up a long rainbow shot that banked in for a 3-pointer at the buzzer and it was 22-21 at the break.

Steele’s triple helped Huntington to regain the lead at 24-22 but a 5-0 run by Ironton made it 27-24 at the 6:10 mark of the third quarter.

Huntington then ran off 10 unanswered points and it was 34-27 with 2:42 on the clock. McMackin’s baseline shot ended the run and it was 36-31 at the end of the quarter.

The Highlanders outscored Ironton 8-2 to begin the fourth quarter and it was 46-33 with 4:32 left.

McMackin, Murphy and Schweickart all scored to cut the deficit to 46-40 with 2:40 to go. Huntington made four free throws and Evans hit a long 3-poiner at the buzzer to cap a 7-1 run to end the game.

Ironton plays Nelsonville-York at 8 p.m. next Thursday in the sectional tournament at Jackson.

Huntington 8 13 15 19 = 55

Ironton 10 12 9 10 = 41

HUNTINGTON (15-6): Chelsea Woodson 1 1 2-2 7, Alacyah Johnson 2 0 3-7 7, Kiana Evans 6 3 7-8 28, Angel Hightower 1 0 0-0 2, Abby Steele 3 1 2-3 11, Lauren Sizemore 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 18-51 14-20 55. 3-point goals: 5-14. Rebounds: 12-27=39 (Evans 14, Johnson 8, Hightower 7). Team rebounds: 4. Assists: 5. Steals 11 (Johnson 5). Turnovers: 18. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: None.

IRONTON (5-15): Emily Davis 1 0 0-2 2, Ariel Schweickart 2 1 3-6 10, Karlee McMackin 3 0 1-2 7, Alicia Murphy 2 2 0-0 10, Lexy Washington 4 0 1-2 9, Taylor Hannon 0 0 0-0 0, Jordan Leach 0 0 0-0 0, Saige Fields 0 1 0-0 3, Macy Wise 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16-51 5-12 41. 3-point goals: 4-10. Rebounds: 11-24=35 (Washington 10, McMackin 7). Team rebounds: 5. Assists: 8 (Schweickart 4). Steals: 7 (Schweickart 3). Turnovers: 18. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: Washington (4th 1:23).