Ottawa starts fast, doesn’t let up in rolling past La Salle-Peru

OTTAWA – They say practice good and bad can carry over to the game – and Friday night at Kingman Gym that was the case as Ottawa started hot and never let up as the Pirates cruised to a 54-19 Interstate 8 Conference victory over arch rival La Salle-Peru.

“We had good practice this week after losing to Morris,” Ottawa coach Brent Moore said. “We came out strong and put pressure on their guards and that led to more offense.”

On the other side of the court it was just the opposite for the Cavaliers, who struggled mightily Friday night.

“We did not have a good week of practice,” LP coach Adam Spencer said. “We are just jogging through the offense and not going full speed. If nothing else give it all you got, but we had a walk through today and I don’t think the girls took it serious. This conference is full of top level talent that plays full time and we have to be ready and we were not.”

The Pirates, on the other hand, were going full speed the second the game started. Ottawa’s guard Marlie Orlandi drove the lane and then Mary Stesser drove the baseline and kicked to Orlandi for the quick 5-0 lead.

Moments later it was Ella Schmitz with the steal and layup before a Skylar Dorsey 3-pointer made it 10-0 Pirates. Ottawa was just getting started as Stesser then picked up a layup as did Schmitz.

A drive to the basket from Hailey Larsen and a Dorsey 3-pointer made it 19-0. With 1:14 left in the first quarter Alexus Hines hit one of two from the line for the Cavs first point of the game, but the Pirates responded with a Orlandi 3-pointer.

LP would hit two more free throws in the quarter as the Pirates led 24-3 heading into the second quarter. Then 30 seconds into the second Hines drained a 3-pointer for the Cavs first basket of the game.

“Our guards struggled again,” Spencer said. “Ottawa was picking us up around half court and really denied us getting into any offense and like I said we weren’t going full speed and Ottawa just jumped all over that.”

Once again Ottawa went right back into action draining two more 3-pointers as the lead grew to 33-6. Brie Ruppert had a nice turnaround jumper on the post for the Cavs, but the Pirates came right back with shots behind the arc from Orlandi and Schmitz for a 45-9 halftime lead.

“We have a lot of depth,” Moore said. “We depend on a lot of players to come in and contribute and tonight we got that here in Kingman after a tough loss to Morris.”

The second half started out just like the first with the Pirates getting shots behind the arc from Dorsey and Schmitz to push the lead to 51-11. The Cavs got a pair of buckets from Kelsey Frederick before a layup from Elizabeth Sines and a stickback from Ruppert but it did little to slow down the Pirates who cruised to the 54-19 victory.

Ottawa was led by Orlandi with 22 to go along with 12 from Dorsey and Schmitz. LP was led by Frederick with five while Hines had four as did Ruppert who also added six rebounds.