Girls basketball: Kaneland avoids upset at Ottawa with quick start, late free throws

OTTAWA – The Ottawa Pirates managed to throw a monkey wrench into the Interstate 8 Conference girls basketball race a couple weeks ago by upsetting defending champion and conference favorite Sycamore in historic Kingman Gym.

The Kaneland Knights visited Kingman Gym on Wednesday, but they weren’t about to let Ottawa do the same thing to them.

Kaneland led 29 seconds into the game until the final horn, but they didn’t manage to shake the scrappy Pirates until making 12 of 12 free throws in the final 1:28 of an eventual 51-39 win. The outcome keeps a likely winner-takes-the-Interstate-8-title showdown alive for the Knights on Wednesday against Sycamore.

“We were very thankful for that,” Kaneland coach Brian Claesson said of Ottawa’s 37-35 win against Sycamore on Jan. 19. “We played Ottawa very early in the season, and we knew that they beat Sycamore and are so well-coached that they were going to throw different things at us and be ready for this game, and they were.

“It was a close game, back and forth, but I thought our energy was good. We matched their energy.”

Alexis Schueler totaled 14 points and four steals, Sam Kerry had 10 points, Emily Kunzer recorded six points and six rebounds, and Kendra Brown scored a game-high 18 points – eight of those coming on 8-of-8 shooting from the free-throw line over the final minute and a half – for Kaneland (20-8 overall, 8-1 I-8).

“Getting first in conference is what our goal is,” Brown said. “And we know the conference is a little weird right now with teams winning that maybe shouldn’t be winning, so we’re just trying to focus one game at a time in conference, making sure that we play our game.

“[Tonight one key] was definitely taking care of the ball. We struggle sometimes with turnovers, so just being able to take care of the ball, being patient on offense, making sure we’re crashing the boards. Doing all the little things that help us win.”

Leading Ottawa was senior Kendall Lowery with a 15-point, 10-rebound double-double. Mary Stisser added five points and five assists, Ella Schmitz scored nine points with two 3-pointers, and Skylar Dorsey scored her nine points on three 3s. Dorsey broke Tracy Farrell’s single-season Pirates record for 3-pointers with numbers 92, 93 and 94.

Fifteen turnovers and 4-for-15 free-throw shooting, however, prevented Ottawa (13-12, 4-5) from drawing any closer than five points in the second half.

“Kaneland’s a very good team top to bottom. They’re very well coached and at the top of our conference for a reason,” Pirates coach Brent Moore said. “But you know what? Our girls battled tonight. It was a competitive game through all four quarters.

“I think the big part of [missing free throws hurting our chances] was the first quarter. We got to the line at will, and [the score] was still 9-4, 11-5. We just couldn’t complete possessions, and that’s been one of our bugaboos the entire season, that inconsistency at the free-throw line. That’s something we need to get better at.”

Ottawa outshot Kaneland 40.6%-40.0% from the field and outrebounded the Knights 24-18 but lost the turnover battle 15-5. The Pirates never made a pair of free throws in six two-shot trips to the line. Kaneland struggled a bit at the charity stripe early but salted the win away with its going 13 of 15 in the fourth quarter, led by Brown and Schueler’s flawless game-closing stretch.

“It helps when Kendra and Lexi are shooting them,” Claesson said.

Ottawa will host Normal U-High on Friday. Kaneland hosts Geneseo on Saturday night.