Area Roundup: First-quarter barrage of 3s carries Ottawa girls past Princeton

OTTAWA — Combined, there were only eight made field goals during the entire first half of Friday evening’s meeting of old North Central Illinois Conference rivals Princeton and the Ottawa Lady Pirates.

That five of those eight were first-quarter Ottawa 3-pointers proved to be an anomaly — and a decisive one — in an otherwise defense-dominated, 37-18 Lady Pirates victory over their visitors from Princeton.

It took Ottawa [4-2] just 37 seconds to strike with the first trey from Maddie Carroll. Three Brooke Waddell 3s, an Ella Marvel 3-pointer and a Gabi Krueger free throw followed for a 16-2 advantage into the second period.

“That’s one thing Coach [Joe] Frye talked about in pregame — we had to get off to a good start,” said OHS coach Brent Moore. “We didn’t get off to a good start last night when L-P came over here, and our backs were against the wall from the very beginning.

“And we did tonight. We came out guns-a-blazin’, and that gave us that pad we needed.”

Waddell added two more 3s to her first-quarter trio to finish with a game-high 15 points. Maddie Carroll pitched in seven points, Ella Marvel combined four points with five rebounds, two assists and two steals, and Grace Carroll came off the bench to provide three points, four assists, four rebounds and three steals.

— J.T. Pedelty

Newark 50, Hinckley-Big Rock 39: At Newark, the Lady Norsemen [3-1] advanced to the championship game of the Little Ten Conference Tournament vs. Somonauk on Saturday by rallying for the win.

Kaitlyn Hatteberg scored 19 points and added seven steals. KJ Friestad had 12 points, and Kellie Snyder pulled down 12 rebounds.

Somonauk 51, Indian Creek 48: At Shabbona, the Lady Bobcats [3-3] upset the top seed to advance to the championship game of the Little Ten Conference Tournament at Newark on Saturday.

Maggie Roberts [22 points], Ashley Eaton [12 points] and Josie Rader [11 points] led Somonauk, which trailed 41-35 heading to the final quarter.

Sycamore 45, Sandwich 23: At Sycamore, the Lady Indians [5-1, 3-1] suffered their first loss of the season. Claire Roberts with 10 points and Claire Allen [six points] led the Sandwich attack.

Boys basketball

Fieldcrest 56, Tri-Valley 36: At Minonk, the host Knights pulled away in the second quarter for the HOIC triumph. Jaxon Cusac-McKay with 21 points and Cory Land with 16 paced Fieldcrest.

Eureka 63, Flanagan-Cornell 47: At Flanagan, the host Falcons stayed close but eventually fell to the state-ranked Hornets. William Weber scored 13 points, while Tyler Pfaff and JD Ruddy added 11 apiece for FCHS.

Midland 51, Woodland 36: At rural Varna, the Warriors [1-6, 1-6] received 19 points from Sean Bundy and six apiece from Glen Ruff and Phoenix Cooper in the Tri-County loss.

Earlville 55, LaMoille 28: In Little Ten play, the Red Raiders [2-1, 2-0] triumphed behind Griffin Cook’s 15 points, Bryar Keller’s 12 and Noah Lemke’s 10.

Newark 66, Leland 27: The Norsemen won the LTC contest led by Austin Tollefson [14 points] and Zach Carlson [10] and Travis Leggett [10}. Leading Leland were Ian Cameron [11] and Evin Hensley [six points].

Somonauk 63, Serena 47: In Little Ten play, the Bobcats [3-3, 1-1] dominated throughout led by Brendan Roberts’ 17 points, Alex Krejci’s 11 and Brock Zimmerman’s 10. Dakota Burrell scored 14 and Dylan Cartwright 12 for the Huskers.

JV/sophomore girls basketball

Ottawa 38, Morris 18: At Ottawa, the host Lady Corsairs were paced by 11 points from Brynne Sember and nine from Gianna Leigh.

JV/sophomore boys basketball

Morris 60, Ottawa 58 [OT]: At Morris, the Corsairs were defeated despite 15 points from Levi Sheehan and 13 from Connor Price.

Streator 44, Peotone 38: At Peotone, the Bulldogs [6-0, 4-0] were led by Christian Benning’s 23 points, followed by eight from Jake Luckey and six from Kody Danko.

Marquette 49, Seneca 32: At Seneca, the Crusaders blew the game open with a 13-5 second quarter. Tom Durdan scored nine of his game-best 18 points in the second and third periods when MA outscored the hosts, 28-16. Caden Eller chipped in 10 for the Cru.

For the Irish, Braden Ellis netted eight points, Lane Provance seven and Bryce Roe six.

--

THURSDAY

Girls basketball

Marquette 43, Putnam County 29: At Granville, the Lady Crusaders traveled to Granville on Thursday night and brought home a Tri-County Conference victory. Eva McCallum led the Lady Cru with a 17-point, six-rebound effort. Josie Eager added 11 points, five assists and four steals.

Sophia Harris posted a double-double — 11 points, 13 rebounds — for the hosts.

No. 10 Fieldcrest 39, Tri-Valley 36: At Minonk, Class 2A’s No. 10 team remained unbeaten, as Carolyn Megow turned an Ella Goodrich pass into the game-winning bucket with 12 seconds remaining to lift Fieldcrest [7-0 overall, 6-0 HOIC] over the Lady Vikings [5-2, 5-2].

Goodrich finished with 13 points, seven rebounds and four steals. Haley Carver added 10 points, with Megow scoring seven.

Seneca 64, Midland 34: At rural Varna, the unbeaten Lady Irish [6-0, 4-0 Tri-County] strengthened their case to move from the de facto 11th spot into the AP Class 2A rankings proper with the dominant road triumph, leading 24-0 after one quarter.

Brooklyn Giertz [12 points], Kennedy Hartwig [11 points], Haley Einhaus [seven points], Faith Deering [six points] and Addie Eltrevoog [six points] led Seneca’s attack.

Streator 44, Wilmington 26: At Wilmington on Wednesday, the Lady Bulldogs [2-2 overall, 2-1 in the IC8] got back to .500 with the road win after building a double-digit lead by the halftime break.

Streator High all-time leading scorer Natali Haynes continued to add to her record, popping in 29 points. Anna Hoffmeyer and Abby Seaton added four points apiece.

Newark 62, DePue 7: At Newark in the Little Ten Conference Tournament, the host Lady Norsemen [2-1] utterly dominated en route to advancing to the semifinals.

Kjersten Friestad with 20 points, Reese Heap with eight points and nine rebounds, Kellie Snyder with eight points, seven rebounds and five steals, and Kaitlyn Hatteberg with six assists paced Newark’s attack.

Somonauk 47, Earlville 37: At Earlville, the visiting Lady Bobcats [2-3] pulled off the 5-seed/4-seed upset to advance in the Little Ten Conference Tournament to face top-seeded Indian Creek. Maggie Roberts exploded for a 29-point, six-rebound effort, with Josie Rader [seven points] and Ashley Eaton [five points, 10 rebounds, five assists] also leading Somonauk.

Madyson Olson with 17 points and Liz Browder with 12 paced the Lady Raiders.

Boys bowling

La Salle-Peru 3,337, Ottawa 3,247: At Dettore’s Town Lanes, the host Pirates were defeated despite a 675 series [194, 245, 236 high games] courtesy of Sean Miller and a 572 [206] from Nelson Brandt.

St. Bede 2,442, Streator 2,413: The Bowlin’ Bulldogs were led by Brady Grabowski’s 599 series [245 high game], Keith Scott’s 539 [194] and Ashton Kling’s 517.

Girls bowling

St. Bede tops Streator: The Bowlin’ Lady Bulldogs only had three varsity participants, led by Anna Jaworski’s 514 series [189, 199 high games].

Sophomore/JV girls basketball

Ottawa 51, La Salle-Peru 21: At Kingman Gym, the Lady Corsairs led 13-4 after one quarter, 26-14 at halftime and 40-18 after three in the I-8 triumph over the Lady Cavaliers.

Ryleigh Stahl paced Ottawa with 14 points, followed by nine points from Morgan Stone, eight from Grace Carroll, and seven from Brynn Sember. L-P was led by six points each from Lily Ficek and Hannah Salazar.

Marquette 30, Putnam County 23: At Granville, the visitors scored the victory led by Jaylyn Clairmont’s 12 points and nine from Lindsey Kaufmann.

Peotone 28, Streator 21: At Pops Dale Gymnasium, the host Lady Bulldogs stayed close but were defeated despite seven points courtesy of Ellie Isermann and six apiece from Marisa Vickers and Charlee Bourell.

JV boys bowling

La Salle-Peru 2,183, Ottawa 2,164: At Ottawa, the Corsairs were edged despite a 424 series [158 high game] from Nolan Alexander and Landon McAlpine’s 165 high game.