Ottawa seniors share the basketball, the ‘W’ in win No. 20

OTTAWA – As well as they were playing on the defensive end as they sought their 20th victory of the season Friday, the Ottawa Pirates were unable to string much offense together early against the young but scrappy Sycamore Spartans.

As they’ve done for most of their previous 19 wins, when times got tough the senior-led Pirates looked to each other.

Skylar Dorsey and Ella Schmitz assisted each other for wide-open 3-pointers on back-to-back second quarter possessions, then fellow senior Hailey Larsen assisted Schmitz on another one to start turning what was a tough sledder into a smooth 43-26 win at Kingman Gym.

The victory lifts Ottawa to 20-7 overall, 6-3 in the Interstate 8 Conference.

“I really do think we’re running our best offense when we’re helping each other and working together,” Schmitz said. “[Ottawa coach Brent] Moore told us before the game to focus on our ‘5,” our spread-out offense, and driving and kicking to the shooters. We’re all able to shoot, so if we drive and kick it to each other, things usually work out. ...

“We always keep saying to stack the wins, and this one was important because it was Sycamore, a conference win. This was a good one.”

Schmitz finished with a game-high 16 points. The Pirates' five starters provided all of Ottawa’s 43 points, including 10 with six rebounds and three assists from Dorsey, eight points and six rebounds courtesy of Marlie Orlandi, five points from Mary Stisser and a four-point, nine-rebound night put in by Larsen.

“When you have a slow-moving offensive start,” Moore said, “what helps you out is your defensive energy and your tempo. I think [Sycamore] had 10 points at halftime. You play defense like that, eventually your shooters, your drivers and things of that sort, something offensively is going to start falling for you.”

Sycamore – now 8-19 overall, 4-4 in the I-8 – led early on a Cortni Kruizenga third-chance 3-pointer on the game’s opening possession, but never again. Still, the Spartans remained close well into the second quarter thanks to their own defensive intensity and rebounding until the hosts found a spark finding each other at the 3-point arc and led 24-10 by the half.

“We’re young,” Sycamore coach Adam Wickness said, “and it’s taking a while - a little longer than I was hoping – to learn what it takes to get competitive on the defensive side of the floor. The first half of the year, we did not compete very hard, but I think we’re playing a lot harder now than we were at the beginning of the year, which is all you want out of a young team.

“You want them to learn what it takes to get to that next level.”

Sadie Lang with eight points and Kruizenga with seven led Sycamore, which started three juniors, a sophomore and a freshman while being without injured sophomore leading scorer Quinn Carrier. Kennah Butler – the Spartans' lone senior to take the floor Friday – came off the bench in the second half and had a strong showing, finishing with four points and team-highs in rebounds (five) and assists (two).

“I thought Kennah did a really good job finding us an advantage,” Wickness said.

The 20-win season is the 17th in Ottawa girls basketball history and third in the last four seasons.

While admitting it’s definitely a nice milestone, Moore pointed out it is not the Pirates' ultimate goal.

“It’s been a very good season,” Moore said, “but we talked before the game about this. February just started, and this is the time of year – and it’s been a long season - where the good teams get together and play with all the confidence in the world.

“Because we have bigger goals here down the road.”