Marietta's Jacey McKnight (12) handles the ball during a game against Fort Frye Thursday at Sutton Gym. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

Alyssa Baker tossed in a game high 15 points to lead the Marietta Tigers to a 43-31 win over the Fort Frye Cadets in a Twin State League showdown Thursday evening at Sutton Gymnasium.

The Tigers allowed the pesky Cadets to remain within striking distance for most of the game but were never seriously challenged after taking a double-digit lead into the intermission.

The win was victory number 13 on the season as the Tigers remained perfect in the 2024-2025 campaign.

“It was a battle but anytime you play Fort Frye they are always going to make you earn it,” said third-year Tiger head coach Ryan McClain.

The Tiger defense limited the Cadets to just five points in each of the first two quarters but they were unable to pull out to too much of a lead thanks to some shooting woes of their own.

Fort Frye's Ella Dowler (32) goes up for a shot as Marietta's Jacey McKnight (12) defends during Thursday's game at Sutton Gym. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

Marietta shot just 9-of-24 in the first half including 3-of-14 from behind the arc but still managed to claim a 21-10 lead at the intermission.

Baker scored 10 of her points in the opening half and continues to play the role of leader when she is on the floor.

“Alyssa Baker is a great shooter and she showed that again tonight,” said McClain. “I think she is one of the best shooters in the state and we did a good job early of getting her open shots.”

Whatever coach Dan Liedtke said to his girls at the intermission was quite impactful as the Cadets scored the first six points of the second half to quickly cut the lead to five.

“We came out in the second half not great and kind of flat which I didn’t like at all,” said McClain. “We called a timeout and they got back on track and started building that lead again.”

Sophomore Ella Dowler got things started for the Cadets with a three-pointer and seconds later Emmie Duskey duplicated the feat to cut the Tiger lead to 21-16.

Marietta got a huge three-pointer from sophomore Jacey McKnight to halt the Cadet momentum.

An inside bucket by sophomore Braxtyn Kroft off of an assist from freshman Kendall VanderWal preceded an old-fashioned three-point play by senior Leigha Lauer as the Tigers built their biggest lead at 29-16.

Yet another Cadet run late in the third quarter cut the lead back to seven with less than a minute to play in the third.

The Tigers closed out the quarter on a strong note thanks to a two-pointer by McKnight and another from Baker who stole the in-bound pass.

Marietta opened the third period the way the completed the third as they scored five straight points to open up their biggest lead of the game at 40-24.

Junior Lauren Elliott assisted VanderWal on a two-pointer and Lauer followed with three consecutive points to pretty much put things out of reach for the Tigers.

“I’ve got to tip my hat to Lauren Elliott because she made a big play getting an offensive rebound and then getting the ball back to Kendall for a lay-up,” said McClain. “That was big for her and she has earned more minutes and I totally trust her.”

Baker connected on three triples en route to her 15-point game while McKnight finished the game with 10.

Lauer and Kroft added eight points apiece for the winners who host Wheelersburg on Saturday.

VanderWal scored just one field goal in the game but the Tigers freshman made contributions in other areas as evidenced by her game-high six assists and 11 rebounds.

The Cadets were led by Duskey and Dowler with 11 and 10 points respectfully.

Fort Frye slips to 10-2 on the season with both of their losses coming to the Tigers.

The win put the Tigers in the drivers seat for the TSL title as they are 3-0.

“We need to be tested like that and you are always going to get tested when you play a Dan Liedtke team,” said McClain. “It was a team effort like always and we just want to keep rolling.”