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BEVERLY - The first game of the season usually isn't the epitome of perfect play in the game of basketball.

Such was certainly the case for the season opener between the Fort Frye Lady Cadets and Morgan Lady Raiders at Fort Frye High School Monday night.

In a game that featured prolonged scoring droughts, missed shots and general miscues Fort Frye was able to hold off a late Morgan rally for a 46-40 win in head coach Dan Liedtke's debut game as a girls' basketball coach.

"I think a lot of that is both team's first game. Very rarely do teams look great," Liedtke explained. "First games are always tough."

Both teams actually played fairly consistently through the first half of play, but the second half was an entirely different story as the two squads committed numerous miscues in the opening minutes.

Morgan senior Autumn Nelson, the Lady Raiders leading scorer from a year ago, picked up four fouls in the third period and three in the first 3:04 to open the half, putting added pressure on fellow senior Abby Williams.

Williams, who had a team high 13 points, ended up going without a point in the second half.

"Foul trouble in the third quarter dug us into a hole. We only had five points in eight minutes," lamented Morgan girls' co-coach Tim Bowman.

As the Lady Raiders were struggling with fouls, Fort Frye was slowly developing a lead after being tied at 25-25 at halftime.

It didn't come easy, however, as Fort Frye was just 8-of-16 from the free throw line and was out-rebounded by Morgan 27-19, including 11-5 on the offensive boards.

"We shoot better at the free throw line than what we shot tonight," Liedtke said.

"We did not rebound very well. They were getting second and third shots and cashing in," Liedtke added.

Fort Frye opened the game on a 7-2 run and appeared primed to run away with the game before Williams caught fire.

The Morgan guard notched nine straight points in a 1:30 span in the first period to give the Lady Raiders an 11-7 lead with 2:15 to play before the end of the opening quarter.

Morgan led 11-10 after one period, only to watch the Lady Cadets take the lead in the final moments of the half as freshman Deidra Combs notched six of her 14 points in the second stanza, including a pair of free throws that made the score 25-22 in favor of the Fort with 1:57 to play.

"I thought we played as a team and everyone put effort into it," Combs said.

Nelson's old fashioned three-point play tied the game at 25-25 at the break.

The Lady Raiders ability to rebound and get second chance points helped as they made a late comeback after trailing by eight early in the fourth quarter.

Fort Frye led 38-30 after freshman Taylor Buchanan made a steal and layup with 5:34 to play.

"You can't give a Liedtke coached team too many opportunities," Bowman said.

Morgan went on a 6-0 run to close to within two, at 38-36, on Karlie Bragg's putback bucket.

The Lady Raiders kept it close over the waning minutes, closing to within a single bucket twice more, but they couldn't quite get past the Fort Frye defense, which stayed aggressive and began to wear down Morgan's players, who were winded from the foul trouble.

"Our girls sucked it up at that point too, which had to be done," Liedtke said.

Fort Frye led by just two after Nelson's bucket with 1:09 to play but were able to put the game away as senior Ashley Okey drilled a deuce of Buchanan's assist with just 40 seconds to play for a two possession game.

Buchanan added a score as time expired to set the final margin.

Okey and Combs tied for game high honors in the scoring column with 14 points each.

"It feels good. I'm really excited for our season," Combs said of the win.

Williams led Morgan with 13 while Baylee Smith had 11 and Nelson had nine.

"I'm happy to get this win coming out on the first game," Liedtke said.

Fort Frye 46,

Morgan 40

Morgan 11 14 5 10 - 40

Fort Frye 10 15 9 12 - 46

MORGAN (0-1): Abby Williams 4 2-3 13; Laurie Ewart 1 0-0 2; Dari Harlow 1 0-0 3; Karlie Bragg 1 0-0 2; Autumn Nelson 3 3-3 9; Baylee Smith 5 0-0 11. Team 15-52 5-6 40. 3pt goals 5 (Williams 3, Harlow, Smith 1).

FORT FRYE (1-0): Deidra Combs 4-8 6-7 14; Ashley Okey 5-14 1-2 14; Morgan Liedtke 2-6 0-4 5; Taylor Buchanan 4-9 1-2 9; Leah Baker 1-1 0-0 2. Team 17-44 8-16 46. 3pt goals 4 (Okey 3, Liedtke 1).

Team stats:

Morgan: Shooting 15-52 (29 percent); 3pt shooting 5-21; Rebounds 27 (Williams 7, Nelson 5, Bragg, Harlow, Ewart 4); Assists 8 (Bragg 3, Ewart 2); Steals 4; Turnovers 10

Fort Frye: Shooting 17-44 (39 percent); 3pt shooting 4-17; Rebounds 19 (Combs 7, Liedtke 6, Huck 3); Assists 9 (Buchanan 4); Steals 2; Turnovers 12

JV score: Fort Frye 37, Morgan 20

Morgan: Tianna Allen 3 1-2 7; Darian Apperson 1 0-0 2; Lindsay Bogatay 4 0-0 9; Trishelle Taylor 1 0-0 2

Fort Frye: Micayla Hupp 7 2-3 16; Emily Tornes 4 0-0 9; Allie Lawrence 3 1-2 7; Sarah Biehl 1 1-2 3; Katie Tornes 1 0-0 2

Next games: Morgan at Tri-Valley, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday; Fort Frye at Belpre, 7:30 p.m. Thursday