Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

It looked like a first game.

The Ironton Lady Fighting Tigers opening game performance was a rollercoaster ride as they beat the Chillicothe Lady Cavaliers 48-37 on Saturday.

The Lady Tigers took a big lead, let it slip, returned to a big lead and then watched it shrink again and then pull away yet again.

“It’s game number one and we’ll try to work out those kinks. We’ll make those easy shots and make our free throws. They’re good girls we just have to get better,” said Ironton coach Doug Graham.

“We missed seven layups the first half or we would have been ahead by 23.”

Lexie Barrier led a balanced Ironton offense with 17 points. Cheyenne Scott scored 10 points while Sydney Webb and Lexie Wise had 9 points each.

The loss was the first in three games for Chillicothe who was led by Osh Brown with 25 points.

“They have three really good players and we held two of them to a field goal. We let Brown get away from us in the second half, but she’s a really good player,” said Graham.

Ironton opened the game with a 10-0 run as Cheyenne Scott and Sydney Webb scored 4 points each.

Chillicothe finally scored on two foul shots by Shawnee Smith at the 3:48 mark and got within 12-6 on a layup by Brown.

But Barrier’s trifecta enabled Ironton to lead 16-8 at the end of the quarter.

The Lady Cavaliers trailed 20-15 after a 15-footer by Essence Devlin, but Ironton ran off 12 unanswered points to lead 32-14 with 1:59 left in the half.

Chillicothe broke its drought on a basket by Jasmine Jordan with 22 seconds on the clock and Ironton had a comfortable 32-16 halftime lead.

In the third quarter, Wise scored off a pass from Jordan Hannan and Barrier made a layup for a 36-16 lead, but the rollercoaster started back down on a long slope at that point.

Brown scores 6 straight before Webb drained a trifecta. Brown’s layup made it 39-24 at the end of the quarter.

A free throw by Wise and a layup by Scott started the fourth quarter and it was 42-24.

Brown then had back-to-back 3-point plays and Shawntel Smith hit a 3-pointer to get the Lady Cavaliers within 44-33.

Barrier stopped the run with a layup but Brown had two more layups and Chillicothe was within 46-37.

Wise made a driving layup with 1:35 left and the defense clamped down to seal the win.

Ironton visits Raceland, Ky., on Monday.

Chillicothe 8 8 8 13 = 37

Ironton 16 16 7 9 = 48

CHILLICOTHE (2-1): Shawnee Smith 0 0 2-2 2, Jasmine Jordan 1 0 0-0 2, Osh Brown 11 0 3-5 25, Shawntel Smith 0 1 0-0 3, Essence Devlin 1 1 0-0 5, Sidney May 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13 2 5-7 37. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: Brown (4th). Turnovers: 25.

IRONTON (1-0): Lexie Barrier 5 1 4-4 17, Sydney Webb 3 1 0-0 9, Lexie Wise 4 0 1-6 9, Cheyenne Scott 5 0 0-0 10, Jordan Hannan 0 0 1-2 1, D’Laynie Keith 0 0 0-2 0, Alyssa Lewis 1 0 0-0 2, Zakia Lee 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 18 2 6-14 48. Fouls: 10. Fouled out: None. Turnovers: 22.