Fort Frye's Elle Casto defends against Monroe Central's Brylee McFrederick, who had a team-high 17 points, during the Cadets' 50-36 Division VI district semifinal victory on Wednesday in Caldwell. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

CALDWELL, Ohio — Fort Frye freshman Rae Morgenstern canned all 12 of her charity stripe attempts and finished with a game-high 22 points here Wednesday night in a Division VI district semifinal contested at Caldwell as the Cadets of first-year head coach Cathy Borich eliminated Monroe Central, 50-36, and avenged a regular season setback to the Seminoles.

“We really didn’t play our best game, especially offensively, the first time we played,” admitted coach Borich, whose team trailed 34-33 with 6:29 remaining. “We needed to do a lot better job boxing out and those were the things we really focused on coming into this game.

“First half we didn’t take great care of the basketball. Second half we did and kept our composure, and really just stuck to what our gameplan was and continued to execute. It was a good game.”

Brylee McFrederick’s 3 early in the fourth gave the 19-6 Seminoles of head coach Troy Baker their final lead as Ella Dowler’s 10-foot pull-up jumper 20 seconds later put the Cadets ahead for good. Morgenstern’s three-point play followed with 5:04 remaining and after the freshman hit two more from the line at the 4:26 mark, McFrederick had a putback to make it 40-36 with 3:56 to go, but MC didn’t score again.

Dowler, who finished with 15 points and had a team-high six rebounds, made 5 of 6 from the line in the fourth while Morgenstern drained all seven of her attempts.

Fort Frye's Ella Dowler knocked down a pair of 3s and finished with 15 points in the Cadets' 50-36 Division VI district semifinal victory versus Monroe Central on Wednesday in Caldwell. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“She stepped up. That’s big,” coach Borich said of Morgenstern, who hit her final two foul shots with 58.9 left before Khoen Courson got 1 of 2 to drop to set the final score.

“It was a hot environment playing in tournaments like this. The crowd and everything and I thought for a freshman she really kept her composure.”

After the putback by McFrederick, the Seminoles had three consecutive turnovers. MC held a slight 25-24 edge on the glass thanks in part to Jacey English’s game-high seven caroms, but lost the turnover battle 15-11.

“It kind of swung the momentum and we kind of pulled the ball out to make them come out and we hit our foul shots, which is big down the stretch,” added coach Borich.

Julianna Wilson’s feed to McFrederick opened the scoring, but the Cadets tallied the next seven points thanks to deuces by Ava Huffman and Elle Casto along with an Aubrie Lang triple. However, McFrederick scored all nine points in the first for the Seminoles, who trailed 11-9 after one but tied it at 17 going into halftime thanks to an English trifecta and a coast-to-coast lay-in by Kennadi Jorris.

Fort Frye first-year head coach Cathy Borich calls for a timeout during the Cadets' 50-36 Division VI district semifinal victory versus Monroe Central on Wednesday in Caldwell. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Dowler opened the second half with a 3 and Morgenstern followed with her first three-point play, but the Seminoles hit three straight from downtown thanks to McFrederick, Wilson and Mayzie Emery. Although a Jorris free throw made it 29-28, Morgenstern responded with four conversions from the free-throw line to give FFHS a 32-29 edge entering the fourth.

Monroe Central, which was held to 34.1% (14 of 41) shooting compared to the Cadets’ 43.8% (14 of 32), got a game-high three assists from Wilson while Dowler had a game-high four steals with Morgenstern swiping a trio.

Back on Feb. 2 in Beverly, the Cadets lost to the Seminoles, 47-39, in the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference 3A semifinals.

Now, Fort Frye will turn its attention to Shenandoah with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line come 1 p.m. Saturday at John Glenn when the two programs meet for the rubber match.

“Shenandoah is a very, very good team as well,” stressed coach Borich, whose squad lost 66-60 in overtime on Jan. 3 at the Zeps before winning 43-31 at home on Jan. 21. “The further you go into tournaments you’ve got to play well because all the teams become very good.

Fort Frye's Rae Morgenstern, who made all 12 of her foul shots and finished with a game-high 22 points in the Cadets' 50-36 Division VI district semifinal victory Wednesday in Caldwell, pressures Monroe Central's Jadyn Miller. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“I think that’s when you really have to focus on doing the little things right and taking care of the basketball. Against good teams you are not always going to get a lot of looks, but our defense is so sound right now that I think it creates a lot for us on the offensive end.”

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com

Fort Frye's Aubrie Lang steals the ball away from Monroe Central's Allie McFrederick during the Cadets' 50-36 Division VI district semifinal victory on Wednesday in Caldwell. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)