La Salle-Peru turned up the defensive pressure in the second half against Interstate 8 Conference rival Ottawa and came away with a 41-36 victory over the Pirates Wednesday at AJ Sellett Gymnasium in La Salle.

The Cavaliers led early with Drew Depenbrock hitting a turnaround jumper and Brie Ruppert getting a stick back for a 4-0 lead.

But Ottawa controlled the scoreboard for most of the first half.

The Pirates beat the press and got a layup from Libby Muffler, who then turned around and hit a 3-pointer from the corner.

After Mary Stisser hit both of her foul shots, the Pirates led 7-6.

The Cavs briefly took the lead, but Ottawa countered with another 3-pointer from Kennedy Kane before a Muffler 3-pointer at the buzzer gave Ottawa a 13-10 edge going into the second quarter.

Ottawa picked up where it left off in the second quarter as Stisser hit another shot behind the arc to push the lead to 18-12.

“I thought in that first half we did a nice job of spacing the offense,” Ottawa coach Brent Moore said. “Because of that we were able to work the inside-outside game well and hit some 3-pointers.”

The Cavs, however, fought back as they got a drive and layup from Alexus Hines and then a 3-pointer from Emma Jereb to get within 18-17.

The Pirates finished the half strong though with stick backs from Stisser and Kane that gave Ottawa a 29-19 halftime lead.

The second half was a different story as the Pirates had more turnovers (12) than points (7).

The Cavs pressure led to several fast break points and a loose ball under the basket was controlled by Depenbrock, who converted a layup and then Hines picked up back-to-back steals and layups that cut the Ottawa lead to 29-26.

Ottawa saved the ball from going out of bounds, but it went right to Jereb, who got the bucket and gave the Cavs a 9-0 run to pull within 29-28.

“We were in zone a bit and started making Ottawa loop the ball in,” L-P coach Adam Spencer said. “We told the girls we just need to talk more, which they did and then Alexus Hines really put some pressure on the offense and got us some easy buckets.”

With 2:13 left in the third quarter, Ottawa had yet to score and committed six turnovers, but Muffler hit one of two shots from the line for the Pirates’ first point of the half.

Right after that, Maggie Boudreau got a put back that tied the game at 30, but Ottawa responded with a 3-pointer from Stisser for Ottawa’s first basket of the quarter for a 33-32 lead heading into the final eight minutes.

L-P immediately took the lead at the start of the fourth with a 3-pointer from Depenbrock and then Boudreau followed with a stick back to extend the Cavs’ lead to 37-33.

Ottawa cut the deficit to one when Stisser hit another 3-pointer, but the turnovers continued to mount and L-P took advantage as Ruppert found Boudreau for a layup and a 39-36 lead.

Ottawa had chances to tie or take the lead, but twice L-P blocked 3-point attempts and then Hines hit both her shots from the charity stripe to seal the 41-36 victory.

“Ottawa has some good shooters and we will probably see them a couple more times for sure,” Spencer said. “But I thought we stayed in front of them better in the second half and forced turnovers and blocked some shots.”

For the game, L-P (4-4, 1-2 I-8) was led by Hines with 12 points, while Jereb added nine points and Ruppert chipped in with three blocks.

Ottawa (6-4, 1-2) was led by Stissler with 14 points and Muffler with nine points.

“It’s never easy to play a rival on the road,” Moore said. “We did not do a good job with the inside-out game in the second half that gave us some good looks in the first half and we started forcing things.”