Girls basketball: Ottawa girls will be looking to play at a quicker pace in 2022-23

The Ottawa girls basketball team this season will look a little different to many who have followed the teams over the past several years, according to head coach Brent Moore.

The Pirates lost four every-game starters — Zoe Harris, Brooke Waddell, Gabi Krueger and Ella Marvel — to graduation, and also won’t have occasional fifth starter, post Cheyenne Joachim.

However, the eighth-year skipper that led the squad to a 23-6 overall mark, including a 11-3 record in the Interstate 8 Conference, feels this year’s team will again be a tough opponent to deal with.

“We lost some very good players from last year’s team without a doubt, but the cupboard has definitely not been left bare,” Moore said. “We’ll be youthful and have to battle with some mistakes along the way, but we have the talent to be a very solid team again — and I expect us to be a solid team again.

“The pieces to the overall puzzle are all there, now it’s just a matter of how they are all going to fit together.”

Ottawa’s roster will feature four seniors, three juniors, four sophomores and a freshman.

“We going to be small size-wise, but we also have more athleticism this season, so we are going to run the floor, and we’ve been working on a transition offense since the summer,” Moore said. “On defense we are going to be a team that pressures, pressures, pressures, and that uses jump switches and things of that sort. We are still going to look to play the solid defense we’re know for, but then get it and go.

“We are going to be a young team that is fun to watch play the game of basketball.”

Moore said he will be depending on senior Grace Carroll and sophomore Marlie Orlandi to provide the boost at the offensive end from their guard spots, with the former also being asked to lead the way in all facets of the game.

“She’s our team leader, no ifs, ands or buts about it,” Moore said of Carroll. “She’ll be at the off-guard, but will also play the point at times. She makes us go on both ends of the floor.

“Marlie came off the bench last year as a freshman on a senior-heavy team and showed the ability she could score. We expect her and Grace to be our one-two scoring punch. Marlie can shoot it, she can get to the rim, and her defense has really improved form a year ago.”

Sophomore Ella Schmitz will run the point most of the time, while junior Kendall Lowery and sophomore Hailey Larsen will play big minutes at the forward spots

“Ella has the drive and mentality to win,” Moore said. “She’s all-in in what we are trying to accomplish, and big things are ahead for her these next three seasons. Kendall tore her ACL freshman year and was still trying to come back off of that as a sophomore, but this year she’s 100% healthy. She is the X-factor for us and a solid player in all facets of the game. Hailey is a smart player that can finish and run like a deer from rim to rim.”

The Pirates, according to Moore, will also need contributions from the rest of a roster that includes seniors Morgan Stone and Michaela Froisland, juniors Hannah Waddell and Tatumn Moore, sophomore Skylar Dorsey and freshman Mary Stisser. Moore also said senior Ryleigh Stehl may miss much or all of the season with an injury.

“The one thing that will hold us back is me, and I’m going to try and keep my mouth shut,” Moore said with a laugh. “I love slowing it down, running a very patient offense with a number of sets, and we’ll still do that to mix in. But I’ve been preaching to them that we need to move the ball at a faster pace this year, and we have to let them do it.

“I will say we’ve looked pretty good handling the concept so far.”

Ottawa will begin its season Monday, Nov. 14, at the Prairie Central Thanksgiving Tournament in Fairbury — opening with Pontiac, then games with the host Hawks, Peoria Notre Dame and East Peoria.