Fort Frye tops Union Local, advances to Sweet 16 (2024)

Fort Frye’s Kianna O’Brien cuts down a piece of the net following the Cadets’ district final win over Union Local Saturday at John Glenn.(Photo by Mike Morrison)

NEW CONCORD, Ohio — It’s simply a given that every single time a Dan Liedtke-coached Fort Frye Cadet girls basketball team takes the court, they will play outstanding defense.

When their offense is clicking as well like it was in Saturday afternoon’s Division III, East District title game at John Glenn High School against Union Local, the Cadets can be downright tough to handle.

The top-seeded Cadets were outstanding offensively in the opening quarter and then let the defense take care of the rest as they rolled to a 45-23 win over the No. 3 seeded Jets to punch their ticket to the Sweet Sixteen.

Fort Frye missed just two of nine shots in the opening quarter as they opened up a 17-14 lead and then allowed the Lady Jets just nine points in the final three quarters to win their 20th game of the season to claim their fourth district title in the past five seasons.

The Cadets had struggled some with their perimeter shooting off and on all season long but that would not be an issue on Saturday as they came out firing from the opening tip.

Pictured is the Fort Frye girls basketball team following the Cadets’ district final win over Union Local Saturday at John Glenn.(Photo by Mike Morrison)

“We’ve been struggling a little bit with our shooting of late but I just knew at some point it was going to start happening,” said Liedtke. “Once that first one went down early on I thought we were going to be alright.”

Senior Kianna O’Brien got things started with a triple in the first quarter and minutes later seniors Kasey Lang and Alyssa Duskey scored two-pointers as the Cadets built and early 7-4 lead.

Union Local got a three-pointer by Lauren Milller to tie the game at 7-7 before the Cadets responded with a two-pointer from junior Emmie Duskey and a three-pointer by freshman Ella Dowler.

Later in the opening period O’Brien knocked down her second triple before Miller tossed in her second triple to cut the lead to three at the end of the first eight minutes of play.

O’Brien has been the Cadets best outside shooting threat for the last couple of years but has struggled a bit of late.

Fort Frye’s Ava Huffman, left, battles for a rebound against Union Local during Saturday’s district final at John Glenn.(Photo by Mike Morrison)

“My shots haven’t been falling the past couple of games so it felt great to get that first one,” said O’Brien. “I knew it was important to hit my shots and help my team and do everything I could.”

The Cadets opened the second quarter the same way they began the game as Emmie Duskey connected from long range before the Jets cut the lead back to four thanks to a rebound put-back by Laken Vinskovich.

With a couple of girls in a bit of foul trouble, Liedtke brought junior guard Lacey Ludwig into the contest and she made an immediate impact by knocking down a wide open triple after the patient Fort Frye offense took nearly a minute off of the clock.

O’Brien followed with a drive to the bucket for two more as the Cadets opened up their first double-digit lead of the game at 27-16.

Union Local finished the opening half on a high note as sophom*ore Alli Kellaway beat the buzzer with a long three-pointer to cut the lead to eight at the break.

The first few minutes of the second half are always as important as any in the game and the Cadets picked up right where they left off as they scored the first eight points to open up a 35-19 lead.

Emmie Duskey accounted for seven of those points with a free throw and a pair of three-pointers and after Union Local got a pair of free throws from Miller, O’Brien knocked down her third triple of the game to blow things wide open.

From that point on the Cadets pretty much played keep-away from the Jets and defensively would not allow the Jets to score in the final eight minutes of the game.

“I was really pleased with our whole game on both ends of the floor,” said Liedtke, whose team allowed a grand total of one field goal in the final 16 minutes of the game.

“Defense is the key thing about us and when we get that offense rolling with it we are in pretty good shape.”

Emmie Duskey led all scorers with 18 points while O’Brien added 13 for the Cadets who improved to 20-6 on the season.

“We have had our ups and downs but it seems like about halfway through the season something clicked for us,” said O’Brien.

“Right now we are just on a high and we think if we keep playing our game we can go pretty far.”

Miller was the only Lady Jet to reach double figures with 10 as their season comes to a close with an impressive 19-7 mark, one year after graduating four starters from a team that made the final four in the state.

Ironically last season the Jets were the top seed and they ousted the number three Cadets in the district final.

The season has been a rewarding one in the legendary coaching career for Liedtke who has more than 720 career coaching wins.

“I knew it was possible and that is what we work for from day one every season,” said Liedtke. “You have young players who have to mature and they did and then we had some highs and lows but it’s nice to see us picking it back up when we need to the most.”

Fort Frye will have little time to rest as they will take on North Adams in the regional semi-final Wednesday night at Logan High School.