After Sycamore beat Ottawa 51-42 at home on Friday night, the Spartans thought they had won at least a share of the Interstate 8 conference crown.

But a Morris win at Kaneland changed the math. The Spartans (19‑9, 8‑1 Interstate 8) had actually clinched the Interstate 8 outright — they just didn’t know it.

“It definitely feels very good, coming up from fourth place last year, changing a lot,” said Sycamore sophomore Sadie Lang, who wasn’t a part of any of the Spartan teams that won seven conference titles in a row before the Knights won the crown last year.

“It’s amazing.”

The Spartans went 8-23 last year, their first losing season since 2011-2012 and fewest wins since 2007-2008. They’re now a win away from their eighth 20-win season in nine full years under coach Adam Wickness.

But it wasn’t easy against the Pirates (15-9, 5-4) in the first half. Ottawa led by as much as six and took a 21-19 lead into the break.

“[Assistant coach Brett] Lucca turned and looked at me and said, ‘I don’t think we could have played any worse in that first half and here we are down two,’ ” Wickness said. “That was our message, we made an adjustment on offense, and I thought it worked really well.”

The Spartans were struggling across the board. Shots weren’t falling, they committed eight turnovers, they didn’t have an offensive rebound in the second quarter, and they were 0-for-10 on 3-pointers.

But the lead was only two because, while Ottawa was able to drive to the basket, none of the open layups fell.

“It was just one of those nights we couldn’t finish at the rim,” Ottawa coach Brent Moore said. “When you play a quality team like Sycamore, when you get the opportunities, you have to convert them because a lot of times it turns into five-point swings. You miss a layup, they’re going into transition, they bang home a 3.”

Quinn Carrier hit three of her four 3-point attempts in the third quarter and Lang added a 3. Those were the only 3s of the game for the Spartans, but it helped them score 21 points in the quarter, more than they had in the first half alone.

Things were going Sycamore’s way so much, Lang was fouled on a half-court 3-point shot at the buzzer. She made two of her free throws and the Spartans took a 40-32 lead into the fourth.

Ottawa never got closer than five in the fourth and no closer than seven in the last two minutes.

“They were well prepared for us,” Wickness said. “We were running all of our sets for us and they weren’t working. So we had to go to Plan B. I’m just happy we adjusted, had a great third quarter and did what we needed to do to make sure that we finished the game.”

Lang finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Carrier added 14 points, seven rebounds and three steals. Callie Countryman added seven points and five rebounds.

For Ottawa, Kennedy Kane finished with 12 points, six rebounds and two steals. Mary Stisser added 10 points, while Ashlynn Ganiere had seven points, eight rebounds and two steals. Libby Muffler had four points and eight rebounds.

As hot as Sycamore was in the third quarter, Ottawa made just three field goals and was outscored 21-9 in the frame. Moore said it was only a matter of time before the Sycamore offense got going.

“They got Lang and Carrier, if we think they’re going to continue to miss shots, we should know better than that,” Moore said. “That was us stressing we have to match the punch for punch. And again, we got the looks. We just didn’t finish.”