The Ottawa and La Salle-Peru girls basketball teams both struggled to find their shooting range throughout much of Saturday afternoon’s Interstate 8 Conference game at Kingman Gym.

However, the Pirates were able to knock down a trio of 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, the final two erasing a four-point disadvantage in the final minutes, and eventually posted a 30-25 victory over the rival Cavaliers.

La Salle-Peru had topped Ottawa by five on Dec. 17 in La Salle.

Ottawa (15-7, 5-3) - which has now won four straight - finished the game hitting just 9 of 50 (18%) from the field, while La Salle-Peru (9-12, 1-6) sank 9 of 44 (21%).

Down four, Ottawa freshman Kenndy Kane made a left-wing triple with 2 minutes, 35 seconds left in the final period before senior Mary Stisser buried a trey from the right wing off a great assist from Ashlynn Ganiere with just under two minutes to go.

“I feel we were doing a lot of things well on offense but then not finding a way to make baskets, well, until the fourth quarter,” said Stisser, who finished with a game-high 11 points to go along with nine rebounds and a pair of steals. “Libby (Muffler) hit a big 3-pointer early in the fourth, and then Kennedy hit one to I think put us only a point down.

“Hitting shots like that is such a great feeling. On that play I saw Ashlynn driving, and I just knew she was going to kick it out to me. She made the play.

“We all know this was an ugly win, but sometimes that just how it goes. They beat us earlier this season, so it was nice to get this one today.”

Ottawa led 8-3 after the opening quarter, but L-P blanked the hosts 10-0 in the second to hold a 13-8 lead at halftime.

The Pirates opened the first minute of the fourth quarter with an offensive rebound hoop by Stisser and a 3-pointer from the top of the key by Muffler to lead 21-17.

The Cavaliers then put together an 8-0 run with two free throws and a transition layup by Alexus Hines, plus consecutive rebound baskets by Brianna Ruppert to surge ahead 25-21.

From there, the aforementioned shots from Kane and Stisser gave the Pirates the lead, and they were able hang on despite hitting just 3 of 10 free throws in the final minute.

“I thought we did an excellent job defensively most of the game, but especially in the final couple of minutes,” Ottawa coach Brent Moore said. “We could have made it easier on ourselves by knocking down some free throws in the final minute, but on the other end we forced a couple of turnovers and a couple times held them to one shot.

“With L-P’s size and the 1-3-1 zone they play, it’s tough. They are pretty much daring you to make perimeter shots. Libby, Kennedy and Mary all came through with those shots for us when it mattered most.”

Kane had six points, seven rebounds and three steals for Ottawa, while Muffler had six points and five rebounds. Ganiere had eight steals.

Drew Depenbrock led L-P with seven points and four rebounds. Hines added six points and a game-high 12 rebounds, April Pescetto five points, and Ruppert four points and 10 rebounds.

“We hadn’t played in like 11 days, so I wondered how we would come out today,” L-P coach Adam Spencer said. “I thought we might struggle, and then we came out and missed back-to-back layups in the opening minute of the game. The effort was there, but we just didn’t execute offensively very well all game long.

“We had a nice spurt in the fourth quarter to go up four with three minutes left, and then from there Ottawa hit a couple 3s and we turned the ball three or four times. We had multiple opportunities in the final minute with them not being able to convert free throws, but we just didn’t take advantage of those chances.”