BEVERLY - When dignitaries and VIPs have dinner in the White House, there's plenty of expensive china and fancy silverware to commemorate the historic occasion.
Well, the Fort Frye Cadets one-upped the White House when it came time to honor head coach Dan Liedtke Monday evening.
The Cadets hand-delivered Liedtke's 500th career coaching victory in the most commanding fashion possible, not missing a field goal for more than 12 minutes to start the second half and holding Buckeye Trail scoreless in the fourth quarter as Fort Frye took a 58-12 victory in Beverly.
Article Photos
Photo by Kevin Pierson
Fort Frye senior Deidra Combs (32) blows past the defense of Buckeye Trail’s Catie Smith (12) for a layup during the first quarter of a girls’ basketball game in Beverly Monday evening. Fort Frye beat Buckeye Trail 58-12 as coach Dan Liedtke recorded his 500th career coaching victory.
Over 400 of Liedtke's 500 coaching victories came during his tenure coaching the Fort Frye boys team and he's won better than 60 with the girls. More than 100 of his wins came while he coached both squads the past three seasons.
"You just go year by year. You're trying to coach the best you can," Liedtke said. "I'm really proud of what I did with the boys. I'm really happy with how the girls program is."
After three years of coaching both boys and girls, this season marks the first time in 30 years that Liedtke hasn't been at the helm of the Cadet boys as he commits his focus to the girls, where he has two daughters on the roster.
"The three years I did boys and girls, it was really a lot of fun," Liedtke said.
And on one rainy Monday evening, the Cadets had a lot of fun giving their coach another milestone victory to add to his resume.
Fort Frye wasted little time setting the tone for the game, going up 6-0 before the Warriors could find the bucket and leading by double figures after one period of play.
The lead ballooned out to 22 by halftime as Liedtke altered lineups and never had his five regular starters on the court together after the first eight minutes of play.
"We kept mixing them up with different players, so we didn't have the same ones playing together," Liedtke said.
Through the first two periods of play, the Cadets had shot 56 percent from the field, and that included just 2-of-8 from beyond the arc.
As good as they were in the first half, the Cadets were even better in the second despite their comfortable lead.
"What I'm expecting in every game, and I don't care what the score is, is that we play at the level we practice at," Liedtke said. "We want to keep the tempo up. We want to keep the hype up. We want to keep the intensity up."
Fort Frye opened the second half by going a perfect 6-for-6 from the field in the third quarter. The only shot the Cadets missed was the first of two free throws midway through the stanza.
While the Cadets were knocking down shots, Buckeye Trail was struggling to find them as theWarriors went more than seven minutes before finally getting on the scoreboard.
Defensive lapses by the Cadets - as they were working on defensive rotations -allowed Buckeye Trail junior Alexis Williams to account for the only points the Warriors would score in the second half as she connected on a pair of layups with 45 seconds and 12 seconds remaining in the third quarter, respectively.
Following those two buckets, theWarriors went 0-for-7 from the field and never scored again.
Meanwhile, Fort Frye didn't miss a shot until there were only about four minutes left in regulation play as they limited their shots, taking just 16 after the break and hitting 10 of them.
"There were a lot of shots that could've been taken, but I told them I wanted them to work the ball," Liedtke said.
And working the ball is exactly what the Cadets did, as every Fort Frye player that took a shot scored, with senior Taylor Buchanan leading all scorers with 12 points.
Seniors Deidra Combs and Morgan Liedtke each added 10 while Megan Liedtke had eight points and six rebounds. Combs chipped in seven steals.
Morgan Liedtke's 3-pointer with 1:21 to play in regulation set the final score, as the Cadets put the final exclamation point on a night of honors for their coach, who looks to continue putting up W's at Fort Frye.
"I just want to focus on this girls program, make it the best I can," Liedtke said.
Girls Basketball
Magnolia 56, Oak Glen 47
NEW MARTINSVILLE -Behind a pair of 3-pointers from freshman guard Grace Berisford, Magnolia built a comfortable lead after the first quarter and never looked back while defeating Oak Glen 56-47 on Monday night.
Just six games into the season, Magnolia matched its win total from a year ago while improving to 3-3.
Berisford scored half of her team-high 16 points as Magnolia led 18-7 after one quarter. The Blue Eagles increased the advantage to 34-17 by intermission.
Magnolia's Mallory Chapman finished with a double-double after scoring 15 points and pulling down 13 rebounds.
Vanessa Hissam led Oak Glen (3-2) with 21 points.
Doddridge County 56,
Calhoun County 47
WEST UNION -A third-quarter surge enabled Doddridge County to pull away from Calhoun County and produce a 42-35 victory on Monday night.
The game was tied at 17 at intermission before Haley Stevenson and D'Andra Swiger combined for 12 points as Doddridge County outscored Calhoun County 19-4 in the third quarter. Swiger led the Bulldogs with 11 points.
Kenzie Hicks led Calhoun County (1-5) with 14 points.
South Gallia 71, Belpre 53
CROWN CITY, Ohio -Belpre ran out of gas in the final 12 minutes as South Gallia defeated the Golden Eagles 71-53 on Monday night.
Belpre, which fell behind 12-2 in the first quarter, battled back to tie the game at 37 with four minutes remaining in the third quarter before South Gallia made its run and snapped the Golden Eagles' four-game win streak.
Sierra Barker led Belpre (5-3) with 16 points, while Katelyn Hughes and Emily Hughes added 15 and 12 points, respectively.
Ellie Bostic poured in 25 points as South Gallia (6-2) had three players score in double figures.
Braxton County 55,
Liberty (Harrison) 20
SUTTON - Taylor Bragg knocked down four 3-pointers and scored a game-high 16 points as Braxton County defeated Liberty (Harrison) 55-20 on Monday night.
With Braxton County nursing an 8-3 lead, Bragg hit two treys as the Eagles outscored Liberty 20-3 in the second quarter.
Hunter Sodaro added 13 points for Braxton County (4-2), while Liberty's Heather Hickman scored a team-high seven points.
Boys Basketball
Calhoun County 68, Hannan 49
MT. ZION -For the first time in three years, both the varsity and junior varsity boys basketball programs from Calhoun County won on the same night.
Behind 16 points from Mason Sheldon, the Red Devils' varsity team improved to 1-4 after handing Hannan a 68-49 defeat.
Hannan (1-4) trailed 38-37 in the third quarter before Calhoun County ended the game on a 30-12 run.
Tyler Burns led Hannan with 18 points.
Calhoun County won the junior varsity game 37-34 behind 15 points from Sam Brady.
College Men
Marietta College 88,
Muskingum 73
NEW CONCORD, Ohio -Brennan McKean and J.J. Martins each scored 18 points and Marietta College stayed unbeaten in the Ohio Athletic Conference after defeating Muskingum 88-73 on Monday night.
Matt Napier also scored 16 points for the Pioneers (7-2, 4-0 OAC), which built a 51-34 lead by halftime.
College Women
Marietta College 84,
Huntingdon College 68
LEXINGTON, Ky. -Heather Booth only missed two of her 13 shots from the floor and finished with a game-high 24 points as Marietta College defeated Huntingdon College 84-68 at the Transylvania Pat Deacon Classic on Monday.
Candice Alexander and Tori Dixon added 12 points apiece as the Pioneers improved to 5-5.
