Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

CHESAPEAKE — Youth was served.

The Ironton turned to its young players and they responded with a solid performance as the Lady Fighting Tigers beat the Chesapeake Lady Panthers 46-39 on Monday.

“I was really impressed with our young ones. We had a lot of young girls who stepped up and played well,” said Ironton coach Doug Graham.

The freshmen and sophomores who played combined to score 33 of Ironton’s points.

Freshman Lexie Barrier led all scorers with 15 points. Senior Karlee McMackin and sophomore Lexie Washington scored 8 points each.

Graham said there were more contributions by his young players besides scoring points.

“Jordan Hannan made some great hustle plays defensively in the fourth quarter. She is earning more time with her play on both ends of the floor,” said Graham.

“Macy Wise was back and did a nice job when Washington went out with back spasms. Taylor Hannan played well and Karlee did her thing as usual.”

Not only did Ironton improve to 13-5 on the season, but the victory gave Doug Graham his 100th career coaching win. He is now 100-57 in seven seasons.

Chesapeake (10-8) was without leading scorer and rebounder Jordan Porter for the second straight game and starter Atiya Spaulding also missed due to an illness.

Senior Jackie Nelson had 13 points, sophomore Sydnee Hall had 9 points and 5 steals, and freshman Kaylee Curry had 7 rebounds.

Lady Panthers’ coach Chris Ball praised his young team’s effort despite being short-handed.

“I was very proud of my team’s effort tonight. We were down a couple. To play one of the better teams in Southern Ohio the way we did, we were pleased to compete at that level for so long,” said Ball.

“Jackie Nelson was very aggressive and carried us on offense.”

Chesapeake lead 12-10 after the first quarter. Ironton held the Lady Panthers to only four free throws in the second quarter and rallied to take a 24-16 lead at th break.

The Lady Tigers were up 37-30 at the end of the third quarter and built a 42-31 lead early in the fourth quarter.

Chesapeake went on a 7-0 run to trail 42-38 with less than two minutes left, but the Lady Tigers regrouped and held on for the win.

Ironton 10 14 13 9 = 46

Chesapeake 12 4 14 9 = 39

IRONTON (13-5): Lexie Washington 2 0 4-4 8, Jordan Hannan 1 0 2-2 4, Lexie Barrier 2 3 2-3 15, Taylor Hannan 2 0 1-1 5, Macy Wise 0 0 1-2 1, Ariel Schweickart 2 0 0-1 4, Alana Martin 0 0 0-0 0, Karlee McMackin 3 0 2-3 8, Alicia Murphy 0 0 1-4 1. Totals: 12 3 13-20 46. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: None.

CHESAPEAKE (10-8): Kelsey Curry 0 1 1-2 4, Kaylee Curry 2 0 1-2 5, Jackie Nelson 4 1 2-2 13, Taylor Martin 0 0 0-2 0, Anna Mayo 3 0 0-0 6, Sydnee Hall 2 0 5-7 9, Mackenzie Moore 1 0 0-0 2. Totals: 12 2 9-15 39. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: None.