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Marietta girls open TSL play with win over Fort Frye

By Aaron Lee 3 min read

MARIETTA - It's time for inner-conference play in the Twin State League. On Monday, Marietta and Fort Frye squared off in a game that the Tigers won 52-38. Despite what the final score may suggest, Marietta stayed in control the entire game, but did not pull away until the very end.

Scoring was kicked off by a basket by Kasey Lang of Fort Frye. Moments later, Marietta's Alyssa Baker stole the ball, passed back and forth with Saylor Wharff under the basket and then made the shot. A 3 by Jacey McKnight put the Tigers up 7-4 early. Teammate Maddie Hogue then got an and-1.

Kianna O'Brien of the Cadets made a triple to keep Marietta from pulling away. Both teams went back and forth with 3's at the end of the first. Ava Huffman of Fort Frye hit one, followed by McKnight with her second of the night. At the end of the first, the Tigers led 19-13.

Marietta pulled off back-to-back successful and-1's to start the second. Leigha Lauer executed the first, and Olivia Rinard followed suit. Tiger Alyssa Baker drained a three to add to the lead.

Near the end of the half, Fort Frye's Emmie Duskey hit back-to-back threes. After the first, Lang managed a steal to give Duskey the ball back. Duskey made the most of the opportunity and hit the second. Marietta was up 30-23 at halftime.

O'Brien got hot in the third, hitting two trifectas in quick succession. Marietta's Braxtyn Kroft had an excellent putback on a shot by Lauer. Right before the end of the third, Lauer hit a basket to put the Tigers up 39-32.

O'Brien hit another three in the fourth. Lauer, however, put the game away by scoring 10 points in the period, including four field goals and two made free throws.

Tigers head coach Ryan McClain gave his thoughts after the game, "The girls came back and responded really well after a loss on Saturday (against Steubenville). We kinda challenged 'em on that, and they came back and responded against a really good Fort Frye team. Anytime you beat Fort Frye is a good day. I mean, I tip my cap to them. That's one team you always gotta come and bring your lunch pail and hardhat with."

He continued, "Everybody helped. We did on defense, and then Maddie Hogue started us off. She had a good, strong night to start us off, and then Leigha, our horse, she took care of business when we needed to. Everybody chipped in and did something for us. All 10 girls did something for us. Even if they played 32 minutes or 32 seconds, they did something to help us and make us better."

Fort Frye heads to Point Pleasant to take on the Big Blacks at 7 p.m. on Thursday. Marietta will play host to Warren, also on Thursday at 7 p.m..

On the team's upcoming matchup with the Warriors and the makeup of the TSL as a whole, McClain commented, "They have probably one of the most special players here in eastern Ohio, and she's a freshman, Aubrey Pepper. We're gonna try and figure out a way to neutralize her, and then handle their pressure more, but a heck of a team. Like, the TSL, even though there are four teams, there's three really good teams in that, and you just tip your cap to all the coaches, because they all do a nice job."

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