Fort Frye’s Ava Huffman (4) gets around Warren’s Rylee Arnold (15) and heads towards the bucket in basketball action Monday night at Warrior Coliseum. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

VINCENT – Playing without two key players and trailing by 15 points at the end of the first quarter the odds against the Warren Warriors getting back in the ball game Monday night against the visiting Fort Frye Cadets had to be incredibly low.

The Warriors defied those odds as they not only got back into the game but they threatened to steal one away from the Cadets before eventually falling to The Fort 45-31.

Warren cut the lead down to just three points early in the fourth quarter before the Cadets went on a 13-2 run to spoil the Warriors comeback bid and end a two-game losing streak.

“I figured coming in that this would be a battle because Warren and Fort Frye have quite a rivalry,” said Cadet head coach Cathy Borich. “I knew they were going to come out and give us everything they had and I guess we were fortunate enough to hang on for a win.”

The Warriors have been without the services of sophomore Taylor Greenwalt all season long due to a volleyball injury and were also without their leading scorer junior Aubrey Pepper for their rivalry match with the Cadets.

Warren’s Delaney Gates (12) tries to get a shot off while being sandwiched between Fort Frye’s Ella Dowler (32) and Jantzyn Huck (3) Monday night at Warren High School. Fort Frye downed Warren 45-31. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

Coming off of back-to-back losses to Laurel and Shenandoah, the Cadets came out on fire as they quickly built a 19-4 lead.

Junior Ella Dowler accounted for eight of those points including a pair from behind the arc while fellow junior Ava Huffman added seven points in the first eight minutes.

Warren head coach Brad Venham gave his team a bit of a lecture after their dismal start and whatever he said seemed to light a fire under his squad as they scored the first eight points of the second quarter to claw their way right back into it.

“It was a little talk about effort and how they (Fort Frye) were just wanting it a little bit more,” said Venham. “Our girls took it to heart and battled back, and got us right back into it.”

A two-pointer by junior Rylee Arnold started the rally and junior Delaney Gates kept it going with a field goal and a pair of freebies.

Sophomore Julianna Huffman contributed the final two points of the 8-0 run by grabbing an offensive rebound and putting back it in.

Later in the quarter Dowler connected on her third triple of the opening quarter to push the Cadet lead back to double digits with less than two minutes to play in the half.

With less than 30 seconds to play in the opening half Arnold brought the Warriors a bit closer when she knocked down a triple but the Cadets answered when Huffman beat the buzzer with a jumper just inside the 3-point play line to send the visitors to the locker room with a 28-19 lead.

Warren found a way to carry the momentum they gained in the second quarter into the second half when they opened with a 5-0 run to cut the lead down to four.

A free throw by freshman Danica Gates followed by two more two-pointers from her older sister Delaney accounted for the five Warren points.

The Cadets managed to extend their lead to 32-27 at the end of the third quarter before the Warriors got as close as they had been since the opening minute of the game when Delaney Gates came up with one of her five steals in the game and then found Danica open for two to cut the lead to 32-29.

“Our girls know that Fort Frye is a really, really good basketball team and we just wanted to go out and give everything we could,” said Venham. “We definitely did that tonight and I’m super proud of the girls and the way they battled.”

The Cadets needed a huge shot and they got one from Dowler who rang the bell from long distance for the fourth time in the game to push the lead back to six.

A two-pointer by Warren junior Jayda Murray cut the lead back to four with 6:13 to play in the game but unfortunately for the Warriors that would be the final points they would score in the game as the Cadets finished the contest by scoring the final 10 points to win going away.

“We jumped out to that big lead and then for some reason I think we kind of let off of the gas pedal a little bit,” said Borich. “We didn’t make some good decisions with the basketball but in the end we stuck with it and found a way to come away with a win.”

Dowler led the way for the Cadets with her 16 points while Ava Huffman added 13.

Freshman Raelann Morgenstern added eight to continue her strong rookie season.

Warren was led by Delaney Gates with 12 points while Danica Gates and Arnold chipped in with six and five points, respectively.

The Warriors (7-3) didn’t help their own cause by making just 4-of-14 from the foul line and that coupled with their 23 turnovers proved to be too much to overcome.

“I’m super proud of the way we played but the bottom line is you are not going to win that many games turning the ball over like we did and you are not going to win shooting free throws the way we did,” said Venham, whose squad will be back in action Saturday at Fairland. “We’ve just got to get healthy and continue to get better.

The Cadets improved to 10-2 with the win and will host the Marietta Tigers on Thursday.