Chance Short
chance.short@irontontribune.com

PROCTORVILLE —Ironton could not fend off the red-hot Fairland Lady Dragons who remain undefeated on the season with a 48-25 win on Monday.
Fairland (6-0, 4-0) used excellent defense in holding Ironton to just single digits in the first half of the Ohio Valley Conference game.
Fairland coach Jon Buchanan was impressed.
“Defensively, I thought we played well other than those four minutes in the fourth. This was our second game in a row at doing a good job of stopping the ball and keeping them out of the paint, so I thought we played really good for the most part,” said Buchanan.
The four-minute breakdown Buchanan was referring to came midway through the final quarter when the Lady Dragons — who had given up just 11 points all game — allowed 14 points in the final four minutes of play to make the final score 48-25.
The Lady Dragons jumped on Ironton early with big first quarters from Kylee Bruce and Emma Marshall. The pair combined for 11 of their 17 first quarter points to jump out to a 17-2 lead.
Ironton (3-4, 2-4) struggled mightily to find good shots and found themselves trailing big at the half, 25-8.
Taegan Carpenter led the Lady Tigers in the first half with 4 points—she finished with a team high 7 points.
Tomi Hinkle, coming off a triple-double performance against Chesapeake, found her rhythm in the second half along-side freshman Kylee Bruce.
Hinkle scored a game high 17 points after scoring 11 points after the break. As for Bruce, she tallied her first double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds to help lift Fairland to a win.
“Bruce played really well. The impressive thing about Bruce is this is just her sixth varsity game and she is already rebounding in traffic,” said Buchanan on the freshman’s performance.
On Wednesday, Ironton will travel to Gallia Academy while Fairland hosts Portsmouth.
Ironton 2 6 3 14 = 25
Fairland 17 8 12 11 = 48
IRONTON (3-4, 2-3): Mary Lackey 2 0 0-0 4, Lilly Zornes 1 0 0-0 2, Teegan Carpenter 2 1 0-2 7, Kirsten Williams 0 2 0-0 6, Isabel Morgan 0 0 2-4 2, Evan Williams 2 0 0-0 4. Totals: 7 3 2-6 25.
FAIRLAND (6-0, 4-0): Emma Marshall 3 1 0-0 9, Kylee Bruce 3 1 2-4 11, Bree Allen 2 0 2-2 6, Tomi Hinkle 8 0 1-1 17, Miaa Howard 1 0 0-2 2, Kirsten Orsbon 1 0 1-2 3. Totals: 18 2 6-11 48.