Ottawa bounces back in OT for first regional championship in 13 years

KANKAKEE – In his decade leading the Ottawa girls basketball program, head coach Brent Moore and the Pirates have celebrated plenty of victories, putting together winning seasons in nine straight years this winter.

But as successful as the Pirates have been, a regional championship just continued to elude the program.

After leading for virtually the entire first three quarters of Thursday’s Class 3A Kankakee Regional championship against the host Kays, it looked for a moment like the Pirates would again fall just shy of reaching their goal when the Kays opened the fourth quarter on a 9-0 run to pull ahead 27-20 more than halfway into the frame.

But with their backs against the wall, the Pirates scored eight of the last nine points in regulation to force overtime, where they took command early and held on for a 36-33 overtime thriller of a win.

Ottawa improved to 24-7 as the Pirates snapped what was a 13-year regional drought for the program, the team’s best record since 2008-09. They’ll face Morton in Tuesday’s Ottawa Sectional semifinal.

“This group is the one that deserves it,” Moore said. “From the very first day of practice, I’ve said this group has something special. We’re senior-heavy, something special with every piece to the puzzle.”

Once Skylar Dorsey’s 3-pointer put the Pirates on the board with 3:50 left in the first quarter, they seized a 3-2 lead that grew to as large as six through a defensive slugfest, maintaining it through the third quarter at 20-18.

But the Kays broke out to start the fourth, scoring the first nine points of it to take a 27-20 lead when TaLeah Turner sank two free throws with 3:25 left in regulation.

As the laws of probability quickly switched to the Kays' favor, the Bulldogs snapped out of their funk when Marlie Orlandi made it a 27-22 game with 3:13 left.

Dorsey hit another 3 to cut the deficit to 27-25 with two minutes left, and after she was fouled on another 3-point attempt with 48 seconds left, hit all three of her free throws to put the Pirates back on top 28-27.

Turner, the Kays' four-year starting point guard, was fouled with eight seconds left, splitting her free throws to send the game to overtime and the crowd into a frenzy.

In the extra period, it was the senior Orlandi, an All-Interstate 8 Conference talent as a sophomore before missing her entire junior year with a leg injury, who put the Pirates up for good with a 3-pointer on the first possession of overtime.

After a 1-for-15 downtown effort in regulation, Orlandi said Moore never gave up on her, and she wasn’t going to give up on herself.

“The entire game he was saying, ‘just keep shooting, just keep shooting. You’re our hope, you got this. You’re gonna hit a big one tonight and I can feel it. It’s gonna be a game-changer,’” Orlandi said. “I really feel like that if I hadn’t kept shooting, the outcome wouldn’t have been the same.”

The Pirates picked up in overtime where they left off late in the fourth, putting together a 13-1 run to give themselves breathing room after Turner hit a triple with 0.2 seconds on the clock.

Turner is one of three seniors, alongside Benkwasha Stroud and Kendyl Christon, who have given Kays head coach Kurt Weigt four varsity seasons.

While the last game of the season will never be easy, saying goodbye to three girls he’s spent countless hours with for four years made Thursday’s ending that much tougher to swallow as their season ended with an 18-13 record, a win shy of a regional three-peat.

“It doesn’t always end the way you want, but there’s only one team that gets a victory at the end of the season,” Weigt said. “They’ve given us everything they had. They’re like daughters to me and they’re always gonna be part of our basketball family, part of our school family.”

Orlandi had 15 points, eight rebounds, two assists, three steals and a block to lead the Pirates. Dorsey was also in double figures with 10 points, five assists, two rebounds and a steal.

Turner led the Kays with 11 points, six rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block. Ava Johnson tallied 10 points, 12 boards, a steal and a block.