The Ottawa girls basketball team opened the fourth quarter against visiting Moline on Tuesday night with a layup by Ashlynn Ganiere off a great pass from Mary Stisser and a 3-pointer from the left wing by Kennedy Kane, cutting what had once been a 19-point deficit to eight with five minutes to play.

However, from there, the Maroons we able to score the next six points and eventually posted a 56-43 victory over the Pirates at Kingman Gymnasium.

Ottawa (15-8) had a five-game winning streak end at five games but have won seven of its last 10 games.

Moline improved to 22-5.

“I feel like over the past few games we have found our identity, the things we want to do ... on both ends of the floor,” Ottawa coach Brent Moore said. “Our team is really starting to jell, and this is a great time of year to have that happen.

“This was another learning experience for us. We talk all the time about valuing every possession and tonight showed why that is. These are games that you have to take advantage of everything and knock down open shots when you get them. We hit some shots, had some good looks, had some rim out, but in the end just weren’t able to make a couple in key moments.”

Moline led 14-9 after the opening quarter, extended the margin to 36-24 at the intermission and then opened the first two minutes of the second half with a 7-0 run to make it 43-24.

Ottawa fought back, with four free throws by Ganiere, a 10-foot jumper by Libby Muffler and a 3-pointer by Kane to close to 43-35.

A floater and 3 by Moline’s Aniya Dixon closed out the third to push the lead back to 13.

Moline made good on 10 of 16 shots from beyond the arc in the first three quarters and finished the game 21 of 47 (45%) from the floor.

“All of the girls said how much Kingman reminded them of Wharton (Fieldhouse), our home gym. Maybe that kind of home feeling helped with our shooting touch,” said Katelyn Hallgren, a former three-sport athlete at Marquette who graduated in 2008. “Sometimes this season we’ve settle on 3s a little too early in possessions, but tonight I feel like those shots were just coming out of running our offense.

“Ottawa does a great job of spreading the floor offensively, they can drive well, they are quick, and they have a number of girls who can hit perimeter shots. Then on defense they are going to guard you tough every possession. All of those things were why we wanted to get Ottawa on our schedule.

“We had a tough time stopping them at times tonight. They are very disciplined in everything they do.”

Ottawa, which hit 15 of 42 (36%) from the field but just 5 of 22 from beyond the arc, was led by 11 points each from Ganiere (game-high nine rebounds), Stisser (five rebounds, three assists) and Kane. Muffler added six points and five rebounds and Hailey Thrush four points and three rebounds.

Moline, which held a 30-26 advantage in rebounds and won the turnover battle 10-8, was led by Dixon’s game-best 18 points, six rebounds and four assists. VaDarricka Reaves added 10 points and six rebounds, while Adalynn Voss posted nine points, four rebounds and four assists.

“Moline is a very talented and battle-tested team. I feel like we proved tonight we are too and were just a few shots away,” Moore said. “When we cut the lead to eight with five minutes to go, like I told the girls after the game, that was the moment. We just weren’t able to get a stop on their next couple of possessions, and we were back down 14.”

Ottawa is back in action on Friday in an Interstate 8 Conference game at Sycamore.