There was an extra energy Thursday at Ottawa’s Kingman Gym for senior night.
The Pirates girls basketball team fed off it, and into it, making nine 3-pointers, and giving the larger crowd plenty to cheer about on their way to a 45-29 Interstate 8 Conference victory against Rochelle.
“It’s definitely huge,” said senior Mary Stisser, who finished with a game-high 13 points, making three shots from beyond the arc. “We had a great atmosphere in Kingman. A lot of people showed up for the two of us (referring to senior teammate Aubrey Sullivan) and that was great.”
Trailing 10-6 in the opening minute of the second quarter, the Pirates (19-9, 5-4) scored the next 14 points, including a pair of 3-pointers from Stisser, one from Libby Muffler and another from Ashlynn Ganiere. When the buzzer sounded for halftime, Ottawa led 23-12.
“Once we got the ball to the middle of the zone and started attacking a little bit, we got a few looks at the rim and that opened up some shooters for us,” said Ottawa coach Brent Moore. “And in the second half, we were able to spread the lead.”
The Hubs (12-16, 1-9) climbed back to within five points with 2 minutes, 50 seconds remaining in the third quarter, but the Pirates again went on a run, scoring the next seven points to close out the third quarter, then opening the fourth quarter with seven more. When the Hubs called a timeout to regroup less than two minutes into the fourth quarter, the Pirates had built a 41-22 lead.
“Ottawa is a good team,” said Rochelle coach John Gehm. “I thought we came out and really threw the first punch. I thought we came out as the aggressor, hit a couple of shots and started feeling good, and then Ottawa turned the pressure up and I thought we backed down, played a little scared. And when you play a good team, that’s all it takes to get yourself in a hole.”
Gianna Olguin and Jayden Dickey led the Hubs with 10 points apiece. Olguin hit a pair of 3-pointers, including one that built the Hubs early 10-6 lead.
Muffler tied Stisser with a game-high 13 points. The Pirates also got eight points from Ganiere and six from Kennedy Kane. Ganiere pulled down 10 rebounds.
“They spread the ball around, it’s not just one girl,” Gehm said of the Pirates. “They play five girls at all times that can knock down 3s and that’s tough to defend no matter what defense you play.
“I thought at times we looked OK, defensively. We got out on shooters, but then just too many moments where we got tired and that’s a credit to Ottawa and their ball movement.”
Moore said he was pleased with how the Pirates handled the Hubs pressure defense.
“We had to stay composed,” Stisser said. “That’s our strength. Normally we handle pressure pretty well, but we didn’t want to speed up into bad shots.”
Moore also said he knew the Pirates were going to come in with extra energy Thursday, because of the larger crowd and ceremonies for Senior Night.
“It was just a really good night,” Sullivan said. “It was definitely the biggest amount of people we’ve had at a game, so it’s really good to go into a game like that knowing we have the support from our town.”