Girls Basketball: Ottawa falls to state-ranked Metamora in Lady Pirate Holiday Tournament title game

OTTAWA – The Ottawa girls basketball team got off to a tremendous start against defending champion Metamora in Wednesday night’s championship game of the 35th annual Lady Pirate Holiday Tournament.

But while the Pirates jumped to a 10-5 lead 30 seconds into the second quarter, the Redbirds – ranked No. 6 in the Associated Press Class 3A poll in the beginning of the month – went on a 13-0 run to close out the half.

Metamora then outscored the hosts 16-2 in the opening 10-plus minutes of the second half to eventually post a 37-16 victory at Kingman Gymnasium.

“When you’re blessed to have an opportunity to be in a championship game, everything has a different feel to it from the walkthrough, to the pregame, to tip-off. It’s a great feeling,” said Ottawa coach Brent Moore, whose team fell to 12-2 on the season. “We were ready to play tonight, and I thought we had a good game plan coming in. We were stopping them from getting into transition, we were super active in our 2-3 zone, and we were getting open shots and making them.”

Ottawa’s early advantage came from 3-pointers from all-tournament selections Zoe Harris and Brooke Waddell, a free-throw line jumper from Marli Orlandi, a rebound basket by Cheyenne Joachim and a defensive effort that forced five Redbirds miscues and a 1-for-7 shooting first quarter.

“We had had a couple of good looks midway into the second, and they didn’t go down. We then had a couple of turnovers that turned into layups – and against a really good team like Metamora has – that’s going to be a problem.”

Metamora (14-1) used a pair of baskets from tournament most valuable player Kayla Pacha – part of her game-high 16-point night – fast-break hoops from Katie Lalumandier, Katy Ramage, Izzy VandeSchraaf and a triple by Alyssa Russell to hold a 18-10 lead at halftime.

“I have a lot of confidence in how this team can play, so while I was a little concerned with where we were at early in the second quarter, I knew if we could just get a little bit of rhythm going and have someone make a couple plays we’d be good,” Metamora coach Kyle Weyeneth said. “We really started to defend they way we can, and it’s something we take a lot of pride in. Midway into the second quarter, we were able to get a couple easy baskets in transition off turnovers and long rebounds.

“This is a group that feeds off that kind of pace and we just caught fire from there.”

Ottawa opened the second half with a solid possession that eventually led to a back-door layup by Harris off an assist from Grace Carroll and it looked as if the Pirates were back clicking again.

However, the Redbirds scored eight straight points – six coming from Pacha – to close out the third quarter up 26-12 and then the initial six points of the fourth to hold a 20-point cushion.

“They really locked in defensively until the end midway into the second and just kept pushing us further and further away for the basket,” Moore said.

Pacha, who shot 6 of 6 from the field and 4 of 4 from the foul line, also had two rebounds, two assists and three steals. Ramage and Russell also were named to the all-tournament team – with the former posting seven points and five rebounds, while Lalumandier had four points and a pair of steals.

Metamora hit 44% (15 of 34) from the field and committed only five turnovers in the final three quarters.

Ottawa held a 21-19 advantage on the glass, but turned the ball over 19 times and shot only 5 of 28 from the floor.

Harris had five points and four rebounds, while Waddell and Kendall Lowery each scored three points for OHS.

“It was a tough night as it turned out, but I couldn’t be more proud of how this team has played so far this season and especially this week,” Moore said. “We ran into a better team tonight. It happens sometimes.”

Ottawa is scheduled back in action Dec. 30 when it takes on rival La Salle-Peru at 7 p.m. in a make-up game from earlier this month.