Fort Frye freshman Raelann Morgenstern drives to the bucket in Monday night’s OVAC semi-final game at Fort Frye High School. The Cadets lost to Monroe Central 47-35. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

BEVERLY – The Monroe Central Seminoles had knocked off some pretty good basketball teams this season as they headed into Monday night’s OVAC 3-A Semi-Final against the Fort Frye Cadets at Dan Liedkte Court in the midst of an 11-game winning streak.

Victims to the ‘Noles over that streak have included such solid programs as Wheeling Park, Caldwell, Waterford, Union Local and Wheeling Central Catholic.

You can now add Fort Frye to that list of victims after the Seminoles’ impressive 47-35 win Monday night that punched their ticket to Saturday’s OVAC 3A final at the ECO Center in Belmont.

Monroe Central used a 16-0 run that stretched from late in the first quarter until midway through the second quarter to hand the Cadets just their third loss of the season.

“I’m extremely proud of my girls and how hard they played tonight,” said longtime Monroe Central head coach Troy Baker. “Fort Frye has always been and still is a tough place to play so to come in here and get a win is big for us.”

Fort Frye’s Ella Dowler shorts a short jumper Monday night at Fort Frye High School. The Cadets lost the OVAC Semi-final 47-35 to the visiting Monroe Central Lady Seminoles. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

Early on it looked like it was going to be a classic battle between the two as they were tied 6-6.

Monroe got a 3-pointer from Brylee McFrederick to open up a three-point lead only to see Fort Frye freshman Raelann Morgenstern knock down a triple of her own to tie the score back up 9-9.

The ‘Noles scored the final six points of the opening quarter and the first 10 of the second to turn what once was a tie ballgame into a 25-9 lead.

Miley Bommer had the hot hand for Monroe Central in the second quarter as she opened it with a 3-pointer and then after following that up with a two-pointer she rang the bell from long distance once again to push the lead to 14.

Mayzie Emery’s two-pointer capped the run that seemed to deflate the Cadets.

#2 Monroe Central’s Miley Bommer drives while being defended by Fort Frye’s Khoen Courson Monday night at Dan Liedtke Court. The Seminoles downed the Cadets 47-35 in an OVAC Semi-Final. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

Fort Frye finally stopped the bleeding when freshman Jantzyn Huck converted an old-fashioned three-point play.

The Seminoles answered quickly on a 3-pointer by Jacey English and closed out the half with a drive on the baseline for two by Allie McFrederick to send them to the break with a comfortable 30-15 lead.

A pair of free throws by English opened the second half for Monroe Central while the Cadets were dealt a tough blow when their leading Ella Dowler went down hard on the floor early in the third quarter and would not return to the game.

The Cadets managed to whittle the ‘Noles lead back down to 15 but a 5-0 run by MC extended the lead to 20 near the end of the third quarter.

Fort Frye would spend the final quarter chipping away at the lead but could get no closer than the final deficit of 12.

Brylee McFrederick led a very balanced Monroe Central attack with 10 points and nine rebounds.

Bommer and Emery added eight points apiece while Miller finished with seven points while dishing out five assists.

English added five points and a game-high 10 rebounds for the winners.

“We play quite a few girls and early on it took us a while to get it together,” said Baker. “They are jelling and playing so well together and you could see that they clearly wanted this one.”

Fort Frye head coach Cathy Borich felt like her team was unable to match the intensity put forward by the Seminole team.

“We knew it was going to be a very hard-fought physical battle and that Monroe Central was a really good team,” said Borich. “I thought in the first half we didn’t handle their physicality very well and we kind of let that get to us and we got in a hole that we couldn’t dig ourselves out of.”

The Cadets are usually a very strong shooting team but they managed to make just two of their 14 3-point attempts in the game compared to 5-of-17 for the Seminoles.

“I thought we matched their physicality pretty well in the second half but we just didn’t hit shots tonight,” said Borich. “We didn’t shoot the ball very well and they were clearly the better team tonight.”

Fort Frye got just 12 points combined from their starters as Morgenstern came off the bench to lead them with a game-high 19 points.

Freshmen accounted for 22 of the Cadets’ 35 points in the game.

“With Ella (Dowler) going down that didn’t help because she is such a huge piece of our offense,” said Borich. “We sure don’t like to lose but this isn’t the end of our season.”

The Cadets slipped to 15-3 on the season and will look to rebound at home on Wednesday when they welcome the Warren Warriors.

Monroe Central (16-3) has one more victim in mind as they take on the Shenandoah Zeps Saturday afternoon for the OVAC 3A title and victory number 13 in a row.

Baker would like nothing more than to avenge an earlier season loss to the Zeps while also capturing the OVAC crown.

“They beat us earlier on our home court and outplayed us,” said Baker. “Hopefully on Saturday we can change that and things will go our way.”