Marlie Orlandi’s 27 points, fast start lead Ottawa past Morris

OTTAWA — After forcing a turnover to start Saturday’s Interstate 8 Conference game at Kingman Gym with Morris, Ottawa’s Marlie Orlandi knocked down a 3-pointer from the left corner.

The Pirates leading scorer then scored on a drive before teammate Skylar Dorsey sank a triple from the right wing. Orlandi, who finished with a game-high 27 points and six steals, then sank a couple of more shots from beyond the arc to help push the lead to double digits.

The hosts, which led by as many as 19, then held off a couple of Morris runs to eventually earn a 55-48 victory.

“We discussed how this game will mean a lot come regional seeding and also how we just needed to get back in the win column,” said Ottawa coach Brent Moore, his squad improving to 15-6 overall and 4-2 in the league. The past week or so we’ve had a couple of tough losses to Sycamore and Limestone, so we just needed to have a great team talk, which we did. The energy after our discussion carried over to the start of the game.

“We were able to get Marlie open for a couple of 3s in the open few possessions and she was able to knock shots down. Then Skylar hit a couple shots, we were pretty solid on the defensive end, and all of a sudden it was a double-digit lead. Then late we did a pretty good job of spreading the floor, using some clock and converted a couple times to keep it a two- or three-possession game.”

Ottawa led 21-10 after the opening quarter and 31-19 at halftime.

“We’ve been playing mostly zone defense lately and I feel we’ve improved in it, but Ottawa picked it apart in the first quarter,” said Morris coach Mike Lutz, his team falling to 17-3 and 4-2, with two of those losses to Ottawa. “They were able to get open shots and knocked them down. We weren’t rebounding the ball well either, so we had to go man.

“On the offensive end we missed a ton of shots right at the basket, either initial shots or rebounds. If we make a couple of those early who knows. That said, we were able to get (the deficit) down to four to start the fourth quarter and then had three straight turnovers, and I think Ottawa converted at the other end on every one of them.”

Ottawa extended the lead in the third as a 3 by Dorsey, plus two free throws and a free-throw line jumper by Orlandi made it 41-22 with just over two minutes to go in the third.

Morris was able to cut the disadvantage to nine twice in the fourth but could get no closer.

Dorsey finished with 10 points and four rebounds, while Mary Stisser recorded seven points and 10 assists. Hailey Larsen grabbed a team-high seven rebounds. The Pirates connected on 14 of 35 (40%) shots, including 8 of 25 from 3-point range.

Morris’s Lily Hansen scored 12 of her team-best 15 points in the fourth and posted eight rebounds. Layken Callahan had nine points and four rebounds, and Landrie Callahan seven points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Morris shot 17 of 55 (31%) overall and 4 of 17 from the arc.

“Coach Moore talked to us before the game about how this was an important game for postseason seeding,” Orlandi said. “I think we all came out really confident knowing that after we didn’t play well against them in our first game, we did a great job against them here at the (Lady Pirate Holiday) tournament.

“We’ve been in a slump recently, but we, as players and coaches, had a pep talk before the game. It was a lot about sticking together and that we are on the right track despite a couple of stumbles. We came out ready to go, and I feel, played a pretty solid game.”

Ottawa is scheduled back in action Tuesday hosting Princeton. Morris is off until Friday when it entertains La Salle-Peru.