Local Sports

Cadets survive scare vs. Shenandoah in district semi

CALDWELL - The final score of Wednesday evening's Division VI district semifinal between Shenandoah and Fort Frye may lead one to believe it was just an ordinary double-digit tournament win for the top-seeded Cadets.

In all reality it was an absolute dogfight as the Cadets were forced to rally from a six-point third quarter deficit as they downed the No. 6 seeded Zeps 44-34.

Fort Frye out-pointed the Lady Zeps 17-4 in the final quarter to make up for a dismal night shooting and claim the win which advances them to the District Final Saturday afternoon.

"If the ball is not falling for us it is going to be tough and that's exactly what happened," said Fort Frye head coach Dan Liedtke. "Our defense really helped us out because we kept them from getting many open shots from the outside."

For most of the game the Cadets simply could not throw the ball into the ocean as evidenced by their 23 percent shooting percentage which included just 5-of-36 shots from behind the arc.

That opened the door for a much-improved, Lauren Thompson-coached Shenandoah team who had suffered a pair of lop-sided defeats to the Cadets in the regular season.

The Cadets scoring woes started early as they went more than three and half minutes without scoring to open the game.

The Zeps got field goals by Kendal Snyder and Emily Moore to jump out to a 4-0 lead.

The Cadets got on the board with three free throws and got their first field goal of the game when sophomore Ella Dowler put them in front with a three-pointer.

Dowler came up with a steal on the next Shenandoah possession and finished on the other end as the Cadets began to show some signs of life.

A two-pointer by senior Emmie Duskey and an offensive rebound put-back bucket by sophomore Haven Shilling capped a 13-0 Cadet run that gave them a 13-4 lead at the end of the first quarter.

After the strong start the Zeps were in need of a momentum change and that came early in the second quarter when they put together a 7-0 run to cut the lead back to two.

Junior Brenna Leach got things started with an old-fashioned three-point play and sophomore Molly Van Fleet followed with a pair of field goals to trim the lead to 13-11 with four minutes to play in the half.

Shilling's triple and a two-pointer by Dowler pushed the lead back up to seven but the Zeps managed to cut it to 20-16 at the break.

The Zeps had a definitive size advantage inside with Van Fleet and Leach and they took full advantage of it to hang in the ball game.

The Cadets opened the second half with a Duskey two-pointer off of an assist from Dowler but the Zeps responded by going inside for three straight field goals to tie the game at 22-22.

After a pair of Duskey free throws put Fort Frye back in front the Zeps responded with eight straight points, four each by Van Fleet and Leach to take their biggest lead of the game at 30-24 with less than a minute to play in the third quarter.

"They were going inside and we were doing everything we could to battle that strength they had down there," said Liedtke. "The momentum had all shifted their way."

The Cadets needed something positive to happen in the worst way and their lone senior Duskey delivered in the clutch as she drove to the basket and scored, drawing a foul and turning it into a three-point play with less than seven seconds to play in the third quarter.

Fort Frye made just 3-of-their first 30 shots from behind the arc but a pair early in the final quarter put them back in front.

Shilling opened the quarter with a three to tie things up and later Dowler delivered from long range to give the Cadets a 35-32 lead.

"It seemed like as bad as we shot the ball right when we really needed one we were able to get it," said Liedtke. "We made a couple of really big ones that kind of got us back on track."

After a steal on the defensive end by Aubrie Lang, Duskey made it a five-point lead with one of her patented drives to the bucket.

While the Cadets struggled with their perimeter shooting they were exceptional at the charity stripe as they made 13-of-15 in the game including all but one of eight foul shots in the closing minutes as they pulled away from the Zeps.

"Just a week ago we were in the same situation against St. Marys so we knew that if they just kept pushing and didn't quit things were going to come back our way," said Liedtke. "They had to work for it and they made some things happen and they did."

Duskey led the Cadets in scoring with 19 while Dowler finished with 10.

Shilling added eight points and a team-high 11 rebounds.

Liedtke had nothing but praise for how the young Shenandoah team put his highly-favored squad to the test.

"We knew this was going to be a tough one because Shenandoah has gotten better and are very well-coached," said Liedtke. "They improved from the first game to the second game and then here lately they have been playing really well and I knew that this was going to be a big challenge for us."

Van Fleet recorded a double-double for the Zeps with 12 points and 11 rebounds while Leach led them in scoring with 13.

The Zeps finish the season with a 13-10 record and a bright future as everyone should return next season except senior Lillian Baker.

Fort Frye (18-4) will advance to the District Final on Saturday afternoon against Bellaire at a location to be determined.