Basketball Game Preview: Fort Frye Cadets vs. Rootstown Rovers

The Fort Frye Cadets will square off against the Rootstown Rovers at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams are coming into the contest red-hot, with Fort Frye sitting on six straight wins and Rootstown on 16.

Fort Frye is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Saturday. They enjoyed a cozy 43-29 victory over Harvest Prep. Given the Cadets' advantage in MaxPreps' Ohio basketball rankings (they are ranked 26th, while the Warriors are ranked 120th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Meanwhile, Rootstown posted their closest win since November 26, 2024 on Saturday. In a tight match that could have gone either way, they made off with a 37-36 victory over Smithville. The 37-point effort marked the Rovers' lowest-scoring game of the season, but in the end it didn't matter.

Fort Frye better keep an eye on Nadia Lough. She was instrumental in Rootstown's win, going 9-for-14 to rack up 22 points and seven boards. Lough's big performance that evening made it three games in a row in which she has scored at least 18 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Addy Germann, who posted three points.

Rootstown's win was their sixth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 26-1. As for Fort Frye, their victory bumped their record up to 21-4.