Host Ottawa wins, L-P falls in opening night of Holiday Girls Basketball Tournament

The Pirates topped Pontiac, while the Cavs fell short against Metamora

Ottawa's Ashlyn Gainiere eyes the net while running in the lane fighting off Pontiac defenders during the Ottawa Girls Holiday Tournament on Monday, Dec. 16, 2024 in Kingman Gym at Ottawa High School.

OTTAWA — In the second game of the opening night of the Ottawa Girls Holiday Basketball Tournament on Monday at Kingman Gymnasium, Ottawa used a tremendous defensive effort in the final three quarters to roll past Pontiac.

In the evening’s opener, La Salle-Peru hung tough, but was unable to overcome a 13-0 midgame run and fell to Metamora.

The tournament resumes Tuesday with Streator vs. Plainfield Central at 4:30 p.m., L-P vs. Prairie Central at 6 p.m. and Newark vs. Pontiac at 7:30 p.m.

Ottawa is back in action again on Friday at 3 p.m. against Newark.

Ottawa 40, Pontiac 20

The Pirates (9-3) trailed the Indians 8-5 after the first quarter but held a 14-13 lead with just over three minutes to play before halftime.

“We weren’t at all happy with how we played defensively in the first half,“ Ottawa coach Brent Moore said. ”Yes, the second quarter was better, but we need to come out with that effort and energy from the start. We pride ourselves on defense. Along with the better effort keeping them off the scoreboard, things always look better when you are able to knock shots down.

“We struggled shooting in that first quarter (2 of 13), and while we didn’t finish with a great percentage (15 of 50, 30%), we knock enough shots down to go along with good solid defense to help extend our advantage.”

Ottawa's Ella Schmitz shoots a jump shot over Pontiac's Araceli Serna during the Ottawa Girls Holiday Tournament on Monday, Dec. 16, 2024 in Kingman Gym at Ottawa High School.

Ottawa then used three 3-pointers by Marlie Orlandi and another from Skylar Dorsey to hold a 26-13 lead at halftime. The Pirates then outscored Pontiac 11-2 in the third to all but put the game away up 37-15 heading to the fourth.

All told Ottawa held the Indians to seven points the final 19 1/2 minutes of the game.

Orlandi led Ottawa with 16 points and five rebounds. Ella Schmitz added nine points, Ashlynn Ganiere came off the bench to post five points, six rebounds, two assists and three steals, and Hailey Larsen chipped in four points, seven rebounds and six steals.

“When I come off the bench, I feel like my first job is to bring energy,” Ganiere said. Tonight, I just wanted to come in and hopefully gets us going a little. We didn’t play very well the first quarter, but I think after that we did a better job of picking up the pace. My second job is to drive and kick the ball out to our shooters. It felt like from the second quarter on we shoot the ball better.

“Our defense was the key, it’s what won us the game.”

Trinity Miller led Pontiac (5-7) with 10 points and eight rebounds.

L-P's Elizabeth Sines eyes the hoop as Metamora's Liv Vaughn trails behind her during the Ottawa Girls Holiday Tournament on Monday, Dec. 16, 2024 in Kingman Gym at Ottawa High School.

Metamora 52, La Salle-Peru 37

Trailing by eight early in the second quarter, the Cavaliers (3-7) used hoops from Phoebe Shetterly and Kelsey Frederick plus two free throws by Alexus Hines to cut the disadvantage to 19-15.

However, the Redbirds (6-6) scored the final seven points of the first half and first six points of the second half to extend the lead. L-P closed the gap to 38-27 heading to the fourth on drives by Emma Jereb, Hines and Elli Sines, but Metamora’s Liv Vaughan, who netted a game-high 17 points, opened the final eight minutes scoring nine straight points to help the Redbirds close out the game.

“We just need to figure out how to score and we have to shoot better from the perimeter, “ L-P coach Adam Spencer said, his squad hitting 14 of 37 (38%) from the floor. ”When you look at the stats, if you take away the 3-pointers (L-P 1 of 7, Metamora 7 of 28) it’s a different outcome. I thought we did a pretty good job of getting the ball inside, but at some point, you have to be able to knock down a few outside shots to make those opportunities in the lane a little easier.

“We did some good things, better things than we have in some other games. I thought we looked ready to go tonight which is something that hasn’t always been the case this season.”

L-P's Brianna Ruppert rebounds a ball over Metamora's Kessa Sell during the Ottawa Girls Holiday Tournament on Monday, Dec. 16, 2024 in Kingman Gym at Ottawa High School.

Forward Brianna Ruppert had nine points and five rebounds to lead the Cavs. Hines had six points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals, with Frederick and Sines each adding five points, the former grabbing eight rebounds and the latter six.

“I feel like we just need to continue to get a grasp of what we are trying to do on offense,” Sines said. “If we call out a play, we need to know what we are doing and who needs to be where and the same thing when we don’t call out a set play. We also, and this includes me, need to take care of the ball a lot better.

“We had way too many turnovers (18) tonight and that’s something we all need to keep working on getting better with.”

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