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Prep basketball: No. 10 Fort Frye shuts down Monroe Central

BEVERLY – On the rare occasion when one team totals more assists in a game than their opponent scores points, the odds of that team coming away with a landslide victory are rather great.

Such was the case Monday evening when the Pioneer Valley Conference champion Fort Frye Lady Cadets dished out 14 assists in a 56-11 shellacking of the visiting Monroe Central Lady Seminoles.

The Cadets were looking for a bounce-back game after a disappointing double-overtime loss to Linsly Saturday in the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference championship game that saw the usually fundamentally solid Cadets turn the ball over 21 times.

“I know our girls were anxious to get back on the floor after not playing so well on Saturday,” said Fort Frye head coach Dan Liedtke. “I didn’t know how they were going to respond but they came out very serious and played very well tonight.”

Those fundamentals that were lacking on Saturday showed up in a big way against the Lady ‘Noles as the Cadets looked much more like the team that has dominated their competition in a thus far perfect PVC season.

The Cadets turned the ball over just nine times, out rebounded Monroe Central by a 35-14 margin, shot a perfect 11-for-11 from the free throw line and played a strong man-to-man defense that limited MC to just three field goals for the entire game.

When the two conference foes met way back in December in Woodsfield, the Lady ‘Noles drilled 11 three- pointers in a 53-39 loss to the Cadets and it looked like they just might pick right up where they left off when Allison Kuhn opened the scoring with a three-ball.

Fort Frye senior guard Brooke Borich answered with a triple of her own to tie things up while igniting a 24-2 Cadet run that stretched into the second quarter with the Fort leading by 19 at 24-5.

Megan Liedtke had a great start for the Cadets as the junior scored 14 of those 24 points including a pair of triples.

Coach Liedtke could sense early on that his daughter was finding a groove.

“Her confidence hasn’t been really high for much of the season,” said Dan Liedtke of the Lady Cadets leading rebounder. “She has really been helping us on the boards but tonight I could see her gaining confidence with her shot.”

Monroe got a three-pointer from Carly Baker to cut the lead to 16, but the Cadets dominated the final two minutes of the half as Kati Hart sank a pair of free throws and Borich closed out the first half with two more treys to send the Fort to the locker room with a 32-8 lead.

The Seminoles had one of those nights to forget as they connected on just 3-of-36 field goal attempts in the game while managing to score just three points in the second half as Fort Frye cruised to their eighth consecutive conference win of the season.

The Cadets connected on 11 triples in the game as six different girls made at least one.

Megan Liedtke led all scorers with 19 points while also completing the double-double as she pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds.

Borich finished with four three-balls and 18 points while Makayla Liedtke added eight points for the Cadets.

The Cadets actually shot better from long range (47.8 percent) than they did inside the arc (44.7 percent).

Fort Frye (16-4) will host River Wednesday night in another make up game before opening tournament play Saturday afternoon in Cambridge against Coshocton.

Liedtke is kind of glad to have a couple of make-up games this week to serve as tune-ups for tourney action.

“Had we not had these make-up games we would have been off for a week before we played,” said the veteran Cadet coach. “For us to come out and play good fundamental basketball like we did tonight is a lot better than a practice.”

The Cadets will honor their two seniors, Borich and Shawntell Parsons before the River game.

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