Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

COAL GROVE — The Ironton Lady Fighting Tigers were expected to play well. They were also expected to win, and they were expected to earn a share of the Ohio Valley Conference title.

Thanks to the unexpected, only two of the expected things materialized.

Ironton beat the Coal Grove Lady Hornets 73-37 on Monday, but Chesapeake’s unexpected upset win over co-leader Fairland enabled the Lady Fighting Tigers to win the league title outright.

Ironton is 15-5 overall and finished 11-1 in their inaugural season in the OVC. Fairland ends 10-2 in the league.

“I’m happy for our girls to win a championship. That was one of our goals at the beginning of the season,” said Ironton coach Doug Graham.

“The girls have worked really hard and it was nice to catch a break (with Fairland losing). I’m really proud of them.”

Lexie Barrier had a double-double of 22 points and 14 rebounds to lead Ironton. Sydney Webb got 17 points and four steals, Lexi Wise had nine rebounds and five steals, and Cheyenne Scott had eight rebounds and four assists.

Coal Grove (9-12, 7-5) was led by Jacy Jones with a game-high 24 points to go with eight rebounds. Summer Willis pulled down nine rebounds.

Ironton shots 43 percent from the field (27-of-63) and cleaned the glass with 50 rebounds.

Coal Grove was just 13-of-58 from the field for 22 percent and committed 22 turnovers. Ironton had 19 steals and 11 assists.

“Coal Grove played really aggressive defensively like I knew they would. Our girls were very unselfish and did a great job of making the extra pass to get a better shot,” said Graham. “Defensively, we played really well. We were really active.”

A 15-footer by Scott and a trifecta by Webb to start the game gave Ironton a 5-0 lead and they never trailed.

Barrier scored 11 points and Webb had 9 as Ironton raced to a 22-6 lead.

Jones hit a 3-pointer at the six-minute mark and one with 51 seconds left in the quarter for all of Coal Grove’s points in the quarter.

Taylor Hannan’s steal and layup put Ironton up 31-11 and a 3-point play by Barrier pushed the lead to 36-13 at the half.

Jones hit a 3-pointer to start the second half, but Barrier answered with back-to-back 3-balls as Ironton went on an 11-0 run for a 47-18 lead.

Webb’s layup just before the end of the quarter extended the lead to 58-24.

Ironton built its biggest lead at 69-29 on two foul shots by Zakia Lee with 3:53 to play.

Thursday will be senior night as Ironton hosts Boyd County at 7:30 p.m. and Coal Grove entertains Rose Hill Christian.

Ironton 22 14 22 15 = 73

Coal Grove 6 9 9 13 = 37

IRONTON (15-5, 11-1): Jordan Hannan 0 0 2-2 2, Lexi Wise 2 0 2-3 6, Lexie Barrier 6 3 1-1 22, Sydney Webb 6 1 2-2 17, Cheyenne Scott 3 0 1-2 7, Taylor Hannan 3 0 0-0 6, D’Layne Keith 1 0 3-6 5, Zakia Lee 1 0 3-4 5, Kenzie Ashley 1 0 1-2 3, Cherokee Alfrey 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 27-63 15-22 73. 3-point goals: 4-17. Rebounds: 21-off. 29-def. 50 (Barrier 14, Wise 9, Scott 8). Team rebounds: 6. Assists: 11 (Scott 4, Webb 3). Steals: 19 (Wise 5, Webb 4, Scott 3). Turnovers: 14. Blocked shots: 3 (Wise 2, T. Hannan 1). Fouls: 11. Fouled out: None.

COAL GROVE (9-12, 7-5): Jacy Jones 3 5 3-5 24, Kaylee Beals 0 0 0-4 0, Leah Crum 0 2 0-0 6, Leslie Mulkey 0 0 0-0 0, Summer Willis 2 0 0-0 4, Sydney Conley 1 0 0-0 2, Maddy McKenzie 0 0 1-2 1. Totals: 13-58 4-11 37. 3-point goals: 7-22. Rebounds: 21-off. 18-def. = 39 (Willis 9, Jones 8, McKenzie 5). Team rebounds: 8. Steals: 7 (Crum 3, Beals 3). Turnovers: 22. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: Mulkey (4th 2:07).

 

Ohio Valley Conference

Girls’ Basketball Standings

Through Friday’s Games

OVC ALL

W L W L

Ironton 11 1 15 5

Fairland 10 2 16 5

Coal Grove 7 5 9 12

Chesapeake 6 6 12 9

Rock Hill 4 8 7 14

South Point 3 9 4 16

Portsmouth 1 11 2 18