Fort Frye’s Ava Huffman, left, pulls up for a jumper as Marietta’s Braxtyn Kroft (33) contests during Thursday’s game in Beverly. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

BEVERLY — Junior Ella Dowler tossed in 24 points Thursday night to lead the Fort Frye Cadets to a dominating 56-28 win over the Marietta Tigers at Dan Liedtke Court to sweep the season series between the two Washington County Schools.

Dowler scored the first eight points of the game as the Cadets got off to a great start and stayed hot the rest of the way as the Fort picked up their second win of the week over their county rivals.

Monday night the Cadets downed the Warren Warriors in a game where first-year head coach Cathy Borich felt her team did not play anywhere near up to their capabilities.

Things went much differently against the Tigers as the Cadets led 16-4 at the end of the first quarter and stretched that lead to 25-7 at the break.

“I thought we came out with a lot of energy and intensity the same way we did at Warren but we weren’t on so much of a roller coaster tonight,” said Borich. “We were able to stay mentally focused a lot better tonight.”

Marietta’s Taylor Zoller, left, makes a move with the ball as Fort Frye’s Alyssa Biehl defends during Thursday’s game in Beverly. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

Dowler had 13 points in the opening half alone as the Cadets defense forced the Tigers into 10 turnovers.

The Tigers played their best ball of the night to begin the second half as they began the third quarter on a 9-3 run that cut the Cadets lead to 28-16.

Freshman Blaire Reed got things going for the visitors by knocking down a three-pointer but Fort Frye’s Aubrie Lang responded with a three-ball of her own.

Two minutes later Reed connected once again from distance and junior Braxtyn Kroft completed an old-fashioned three-point play to cut the deficit to a dozen.

“It was good to see the way we came out after halftime and responded the way we did,” said Marietta first-year head coach Ali Shane. “Our third quarter growth and coming out ready to play has been much better and that’s something that we can take away positively tonight.”

Dowler did the bulk of her damage from behind the arc but her short jumper preceded a two-pointer from fellow junior Ava Huffman to shove the lead back out to 16.

After a pair of free throws by Fiona Fowler and one by Reed the Cadets got a two-pointer from freshman Raelann Morgenstern and a triple by Dowler to push the lead back to 19.

The Cadets really began to break things wide open in the beginning of the final quarter and a pair of three-pointers by Dowler put things out of reach and allowed both teams to empty their respective benches to get plenty of playing time for everyone on their individual squads the rest of the way.

Twelve different Cadets got into the game with everyone but two scoring at least two points.

“It’s nice to get those kids into a varsity game because a lot of times we don’t have a full J.V. game,” said Borich. “Getting some varsity minutes for them is big because they are a big part of our success too.”

Dowler finished the game a blistering hot 9-of- 12 from the floor including 6-of-9 from behind the arc.

“She (Dowler) is a floor leader and when she is on like she was tonight then look out,” said Borich. “She was on fire and I think we did a great job of getting her some open looks.”

Dowler also pulled down six rebounds to match Huffman for the team lead in boards.

Kroft and Reed led the way for the Tigers with eight and seven points, respectively.

Marietta played the game without senior standout Hayleigh Chidester who was unavailable due to an illness.

The schedule the rest of the way won’t get any easier for the young Tigers, who have now lost four games in a row and slipped to 4-8 on the season..

“We are really young and we are not as experienced as a lot of teams we have played and are going to play,” said Shane. “We have just got to stay mentally tough and keep fighting and hopefully we can turn things around.”

Fort Frye improves to 11-2 with the win and Borich likes the trajectory her team is taking as they roll into the second half of the season.

“I feel pretty good about where we are at but we still have work to do,” said Borich, whose team turned the ball over just three times in the game. “We don’t want to be one of those teams that peaks in the middle of the season, we want to be the team that peaks in February heading into the tournaments.”