Girls basketball: Kaneland drops first Interstate 8 game at Ottawa

The Ottawa girls basketball team, after leading most of the game, found itself down five points to visiting Kaneland with just over two minutes to play in Wednesday’s Interstate 8 Conference contest at Kingman Gymnasium.

However, 3-pointers from Mary Stisser and Kennedy Kane, plus a steal and layup by Kane with 10 seconds left, helped the hosts earn a 33-30 victory over the Knights.

Ottawa, now winners in four straight games, improved to 14-7 overall and 4-3 in league play. Kaneland, which dropped to 17-7 and 6-1, is now in a tie with Sycamore for the conference lead.

“It was frustrating and fun all at the same time,” said Ottawa junior guard Ashlynn Ganiere, who had seven points, eight rebounds and a pair of steals. “The top two things on the board before the game were toughness and togetherness. We’ve been trending up the past few games and the message was to just stay together and play hard every second.

“I feel the biggest thing for us is that we are playing with confidence. Confidence in each other and ourselves. I think earlier in the season we’d let things get to us collectively, but right now, if we make a mistake, or something doesn’t go our way, we are just letting it go and moving on to the next play.”

Ottawa held a 25-21 lead after a layup by Stisser opened the fourth quarter.

Kaneland then went on a 9-0 run with a pair of rebound baskets by Grace Brunscheen, a 3-pointer from the top of the key by Dani Ridolfi which gave the Knights their first lead of the game, and a pair of free throws by Brunscheen to hold a 30-25 margin.

“Tonight, really just came down to Ottawa made winning plays down the stretch,” Kaneland coach Brian Claesson said. “When it’s a tight, close game, one play here or there can make a big difference in the outcome. This game pretty much played out like we thought it would, it was a grind from start to finish.

“We put a great run there together there in the fourth quarter to take the lead. But in the final two minutes Ottawa knocked down a couple of really big shots to take the lead back and we unfortunately came up empty on our last handful of possessions.”

Ottawa responded by Kane left-wing triple with two minutes left before Stisser’s trey from out front swished through to put the hosts up 31-30.

Then with 10 seconds left, Kane made a steal and turned it into a layup.

The Knights had a protentional tying 3-pointer rim off at the final buzzer.

“We had talked all game long about while offensively this game was more than likely going to be a grind, the timely shot was going to come at some point,” Ottawa coach Brent Moore said. “Those finally came with a couple minutes left in the game and Mary and Kennedy knocked them down. This team is playing with so much confidence right now and hopefully we can keep this going as we near the postseason.”

Ottawa led 13-8 after the opening quarter, 17-15 at halftime and 23-21 heading to the fourth quarter.

Kane led Ottawa with a game-high 15 points and eight rebounds while Stisser finished with nine points and seven rebounds.

Brunscheen and Sophia Rosati each had eight points to lead Kaneland with Amani Meeks adding six points and a team-best six rebounds.

“After the win, the thing I’m happiest about is seeing how much pride this team has,” Moore said. “Our engagement level in practice, learning new things we’ve put in and how we were going to handle Kaneland defensively, was off the charts high the past couple of days.

“Our girls just had an incredible will to win tonight.”

Next: Kaneland at St. Francis on Thursday. Ottawa hosts La Salle-Peru on Saturday.