WAVERLY - Down 13 points in the second quarter with the opposition shooting 50 percent, things looked bad for our heroes.

But wait. Look, on the court. It's Super Seniors!

Well, maybe they're not super, but senior Andrea Rudmann and Sarah Cartmell gave a super effort in the fourth quarter as they rallied the Ironton Lady Fighting Tigers to a 60-51 win over the upset-minded Minford Lady Falcons in the Division III district semifinals.

Trailing 39-38 heading into the fourth quarter, Rudmann hit three big 3-pointers and scored 13 points while Cartmell had 7 points and a key steal that rallied Ironton to the district finals.

"With four minutes to go, Cartmell and I talked to each other and said, 'This is it.' We had to take it into our own hands. We didn't want it to end here. We wanted to go on. This team has a lot of heart and they wouldn't quit," Rudmann said.

Cartmell had a

3-point play that put Ironton up 48-47 only to have Katie Donahoe make two foul shots to give Minford the lead with 4:09 left.

Rudmann countered with a trey at the four-minute mark and Cartmell followed up a missed shot as Ironton took the lead for good at 53-49 with 3:02 left.

"I was so scared for a minute. We didn't want to see our season end now," Cartmell said.

"In the second half we realized we had to step it up. Everyone started talking. We got our intensity. We had to win or this was it for us."

Rudmann stepped up and hit another 3-pointer and Cartmell came up with a steal, was fouled and sank two foul shots at the 1:08 mark. Rudmann added two free throws with 55 seconds left after a steal by Mandi Boykin and Ironton was up 60-51.

Ironton was 7 of 9 from the field, 3 of 3 from behind the arc, and 5 of 5 from the line in the fourth quarter, quite a turnaround from the first quarter then the Lady Fighting Tigers were just 4 of 16 from the floor.

Conversely, Minford (18-4) was 11 of 22 in the first half with freshman point guard Kara Cayton scoring 13 of her 20 points including three NBA-length 3-point goals. It was a 3-point play by Donahoe that gave Minford the game's biggest lead at 25-12 with 5:06 to go in the first half.

"Cartmell and Rudmann really stepped up. They showed a lot of heart and a lot of guts," Ironton coach Amy Hughes said. "We told the girls that teams in the past would have folded if they were down 13. It seems every team we play always plays their best game against us."

Rudmann finished with 26 points and Cartmell had 11 points. Sarah Hacker got 13 points and 9 rebounds and Boykin had 6 assists.

Hacker hit a 15-footer to tie the game early at 7-7. Minford then went on a 9-3 run to lead 16-10 at the end of the quarter.

After the Lady Falcons got their big lead in the second quarter, a 4-point play by Rudmann cut the deficit to 28-22. Rachel James made a 3-pointer to up the Minford lead to 31-22, but Rudmann sank two foul shots, got a steal and layup with nine seconds left, and another Minford turnover allowed Boykin to hit Cartmell for a layup and it was 31-28 at the half.

"We just tried to keep Cayton from handling the ball, and we wanted our press to be effective and it was," Hughes said. "We got some turnovers and got them to rush some shots. The press won it for us."

Ironton's press continued to bother Minford in the third quarter and a layup by Hacker gave the Lady Tigers a 38-34 lead at the 4:49 mark.

But Cayton hit another long 3-pointer and then sank a free throw to give Minford a 39-38 lead after three quarters and set up the strong Ironton finish.

Ironton (21-1) will play Eastern Brown/Zane Trace next Friday or Saturday at Waverly. The day and time will be determined Sunday in order not to conflict with the Ironton boys' district game scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Ohio University on Saturday.

Minford1615812=51

Ironton10181022=60

MINFORD (18-4):

Katie Donahoe 3-7 (0-0) 6-9 12, Kara Cayton 7-16 (5-11) 1-2 20, Rachel James 1-1 (0-0) 0-0 2, Mandy Donahoe 1-2 (1-2) 0-0 3, Kristin Martin 1-3 (0-0) 0-0 2, Brittany Brigner 3-4 (0-0) 3-6 9, Shaye Berry 1-2 (0-0) 0-0 2. Totals: 17-37

(7-14)

10-17

51. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: Brigner 4th 0:55). Rebounds: 4-10=14 (Martin 6, K. Donahoe 4). Team/deadball rebounds: 8. Total rebounds: 22. Assists: 4 (Cayton 2). Steals: 3 (Cayton 2). Turnovers: 15. FG% – 45.9. FT% – 58.8. 3pt% – 50.0.

IRONTON (21-1):

Andrea Rudmann 8-16 (5-8) 5-5 26, Danielle Henderson 2-6 (0-0) 0-0 4, Mandi Boykin 2-7 (0-0) 2-2 6, Sarah Cartmell 4-6 (0-0) 4-4 11, Sara Hacker 6-10 (1-3) 0-2 13, Ciara Taylor 0-1 (0-0) 0-0 0, Jessica Waddle 0-2 (0-0) 0-0 0. Totals: 22-48

(6-11)

10-12

60. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 12-14=26 (Hacker 9, Boykin 5). Team/deadball rebounds: 0. Assists: 10 (Boykin 6). Steals: 7 (Hacker 2, Boykin 2, Cartmell 2). Turnovers: 9. FG% – 41.7. FT% – 83.3. 3pt% – 54.4.