Fort Frye’s Ella Dowler (32) goes up for a layup against Marietta during Monday’s game at Sutton Gym. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

Fort Frye freshman Raelann Morgenstern came off the bench to score a team-high 16 points Monday night to lead the Cadets to a 48-30 win over the Marietta Tigers at Sutton Gymnasium.

The visitors actually trailed Marietta by a point at halftime before out-pointing the Tigers 18-4 in the third quarter and then pulling away to their second victory in as many tries in the young 2025-2026 season.

The Cadets threatened to run away from the Tigers in the opening half as they forced Marietta into 13 turnovers but their inability to hit shots from the perimeter allowed Marietta to stay in the game.

Fort Frye made just 1-of-11 shots from behind the arc in the opening half a number that would improve dramatically in the second.

First-year Cadet head coach Cathy Borich felt like patience on her team’s part was the difference in the shots falling in the second half.

Fort Frye’s Elle Casto, right, defends Marietta’s Braxtyn Kroft in the paint during Monday’s game at Sutton Gym. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

“In the second half we did a much better job against their two-three zone moving the ball inside and out,” said Borich, whose team made 4-of-10 shots from behind the arc in the final half. “I think in the second half our three-point shots weren’t rushed as much and they were much better shots.”

The Cadets ended the first eight minutes with four points in a row by Morgenstern to take an 11-7 lead and then increased it to nine thanks to a triple by Morgenstern and a two-pointer by junior Ava Huffman early in the second quarter.

Those would be the only two buckets of the second quarter for the Cadets as Marietta ended the half with a 10-0 run to take a 17-16 lead into the break.

Tiger senior Hayleigh Chidester scored six of those ten points while sophomore Maya Diki added the other four to send the Tigers to the intermission with momentum clearly on their side.

That momentum wouldn’t last long at all as the Cadets came out like a different team in the second half.

Huffman’s two-pointer opened the quarter for the Cadets before Tiger senior Lauren Elliott knocked down a triple to put Marietta back on top.

That lead would be short lived as the Cadets got two-pointers from Khoen Courson, Huffman and Morgenstern and a triple by junior Ella Dowler to take an eight-point lead.

A Chidester free throw briefly stopped the bleeding for the Tigers but Morgenstern and Courson would ring the bell from long distance as Fort Frye out-scored Marietta 18-4 in the third period to turn the one-point deficit into a 13-point lead.

First-year Tiger head coach Ally Shane has seen her team struggle out of the gate in the second half more than once in the early part of the season.

“I told our kids whoever wins the first three minutes of the third quarter is going to win the ball game,” said Shane. “We let Athens go on a big run the other day in that loss and did so again tonight….The third quarter is crucial and we’ve got to figure out how to come out stronger or it’s going to be a long season for us.”

Tiger freshman Blaire Reed opened up the final quarter with a two-pointer but Fort Frye continued to add on as they pushed their lead to 20 at one time before settling for the 18-point win.

With four of the five starters returning this year from last years team that made it all the way to the final four the Cadets were already a sound basketball team but the spark that Morgenstern has provided off the bench over the first two games adds a whole new dimension to their team.

“She (Morgernstern) does a really nice job for us,” said Borich. “She is the first one off of the bench and it’s nice having someone that can add that spark and energy and her on the ball defense is very good too.”

In addition to her 16 points, Morgenstern also came up with five steals and dished out three assists.

Huffman finished the game with 11 points while Dowler added nine for The Fort.

While the Cadet offense was kind of off and on the defense was solid all game long.

“I thought our defense was pretty good all night,” said Borich. “We were able to force all of those turnovers early on and then were able to hold them to the four points in the third quarter which was big.”

Keeping the ball out of the hands of Chidester was another big key for the Cadets

Chidester took just nine shots from the floor but made the most of them as she finished with a team-high 16 points.

The Cadets improved to 2-0 with the win after beating Federal Hocking on Saturday and will now pay a visit to Belpre on Wednesday.

The Tigers slipped to 2-2 with the loss with a rivalry match upcoming on Thursday back at Sutton Gym when the Warren Warriors come calling.

“That’s an important league game for us so we have got to get back to work and come out ready to play,” said Shane. “We’ve got several games in a row here at home and we want to get back on track.”