Sadie Lang’s 3 from Quinn Carrier’s steal leads Sycamore comeback against Ottawa

SYCAMORE – With Sycamore down a point in the final few minutes against Ottawa on Friday, Quinn Carrier said she knew every possession would count.

Carrier came up with a steal with 2:31 left and fed it ahead to Sadie Lang, who drained a 3-pointer to give the Spartans their second lead of the game, one that would last until the end of their 41-39 victory over the Pirates in a key Interstate 8 battle.

“Every possession toward the end matters,” Carrier said. “She had been hot this whole game, so get the ball to her and she’s going to return with a good thing.”

Ottawa (13-5 overall, 2-2 Interstate 8) raced out to a 21-8 lead early in the second quarter and led 23-16 at the break.

Sycamore (7-11, 3-1) tied things up for the first time at 26-26 on a bucket by Carrier, who finished with a game-high 17.

Carrier’s layup with 1:18 left in the third gave the Spartans their first lead of the night, 30-29.

The lead lasted less than 10 seconds as Hailey Larsen hit a pair of free throws as part of her eight-point night.

The Pirates maintained that lead until Carrier’s steal. Lang drained her 3 with 2:22 left, capping her 15-point night and putting the Spartans up 41-39. Neither team made another field goal.

Sycamore coach Adam Wickness said the win combined with a 52-38 win against St. Francis earlier this week is a turning point for the Spartans. He said he doesn’t think the team could have come back from 13 down a few weeks ago.

“We’re playing with some confidence right now,” Wickness said. “It’s hard to say that because we’ve only won two in a row, but I think we had a nice long look at ourselves in the mirror after Christmas and we realized if we wanted to right the ship there were some things we had to get better at.”

Wickness said there’s been an emphasis on effort, toughness and physicality the past couple of practices and it paid off Friday.

Carrier said it was a big win and the players knew they had to bring the juice.

“After all the losses we had we did start to break ourselves down,” Carrier said. “But after that St. Francis win we knew we had what it takes to get these big ones. Everyone’s confidence is definitely getting up.”

Marlie Orlandi led Ottawa with 12 points and six rebounds. She missed a layup and a couple 3s down the stretch and had two points in the second half.

“We weren’t good enough to get it done on the road,” Ottawa coach Brent Moore said. “We were good at times but there were other times where we missed too many shots around the rim. That was one of the biggest things for us tonight. We had the chance to stretch some things out and missed some things around the rim.”

Lang had 10 rebounds in the game, but also had some outlet passes intercepted in the final minute.

Wickness said it’s all part of the growing process for the Sycamore freshman.

“She wants to be in moments like that,” Wickness said of Lang. “She’s been talking about her moment when she gets to high school since as long as I’ve known her, which has been since she was 6 or 7. ... She’s going to step up and make plays. You take the good with the bad because she’s a freshman, she’s still learning. It’ll look a little bit different when she’s a senior.”

The Spartans move into a second-place tie with Morris in the conference, while Kaneland leads the I-8 with a 4-1 mark. The Spartans play at Morris on Tuesday.