Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

Ironton coach Doug Graham may decide to see an eye specialist. He was seeing spots before his eyes.

Graham saw his Lady Tigers play well at times and bad at other times. But the good outweighed the bad as Ironton beat the Coal Grove Lady Hornets 51-38 on Wednesday.

“We played well in spots,” said Doug Graham. “We would build a lead and then we’d relax. We didn’t play with much energy or intensity. It wasn’t a great performance, but it was a win.”

Ironton (16-5) was led by Karlee McMackin with a season-high 16 points. Lexie Barrier had 14 points and 5 steals. Lexie Washington added 9 points and 4 steals and Alicia Murphy grabbed 7 rebounds.

The Lady Tigers forced 19 turnovers.

“We did a good job pressuring the ball and forcing turnovers. We really should have created more turnovers and we got lazy on the boards at times,” said Graham.

Ashley Adkins scored 15 points and Darrien Hankins had 9 points and 8 rebounds for the Lady Hornets (13-8).

Ironton raced to an 8-0 lead to start the game. Adkins hit a pair of 3-pointers to cut the deficit to 8-6 before Barrier’s 19-footer made it 14-9 at the end of the quarter.

McMackin hit a 10-footer at the 2:47 mark that opened up a 23-13 lead. Coal Grove scored 6 straight before a foul shot by Murphy made it 24-19 at the half.

Barrier’s steal and layup and a layup by McMackin started the second half and it was 28-19. A 15-footer by McMackin and a layup by Barrier gave Ironton a 36-23 lead.

Ironton scored 7 unanswered points midway through the fourth quarter. A steal and layup by Washington with 3:41 left gave Ironton its biggest lead at 49-31.

On Thursday, Coal Grove visits Chesapeake and Ironton hosts Huntington in its final home game.

Coal Grove 9 10 10 9 = 38

Ironton 14 10 17 10 = 51

COAL GROVE (13-8): Jacy Jones 0 0 2-4 2, Katey Erwin 3 0 1-3 7, Ashley Adkins 3 3 0-1 15, Morgan Sites 1 0 1-2 3, Darrien Hankins 3 0 3-4 9, Taylor Fleming 1 0 0-0 2, Leah Crum 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14-34 7-14 38. 3-point goals: 3-8. Rebounds: 8 offense, 19 defense = 27 (Hankins 8, Jones 4, Erwin 4, Adkins 4). Team rebounds: 5. Assists: 3 (Adkins 2). Steals: 3 (Adkins 2). Turnovers: 19. Fouls: 10. Fouled out: None.

IRONTON (16-5): Lexie Washington 4 0 1-3 9, Lexie Barrier 4 2 0-1 14, Ariel Schweickart 1 1 2-2 7, Karlee McMackin 8 0 0-0 16, Alicia Murphy 0 0 1-2 1, Taylor Hannan 0 0 0-0 0, Jordan Hannan 0 0 0-0 0, Alana Martin 0 0 4-6 4, Saige Fields 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 20-44 8-14 51. 3-point goals: 3-8. Rebounds: 8 offense, 17 defense = 25 (Murphy 7, Schweickart 5, McMackin 4). Team rebounds: 2. Assists: 7 (Murphy 2, Washington 2). Steals: 12 (Barrier 5, Washington 4). Turnovers: 9. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: None.