The Times Area Roundup: Ottawa girls finish runner-up in I-8; Carter Ewing 3 lifts Woodland boys past Earlville

At Sandwich on Tuesday, the visiting Ottawa girls basketball team improved to 23-6 overall and finished the Interstate 8 Conference slate with a runner-up 12-2 mark, besting the host Indians to complete the I-8 sweep.

The Pirates are home Wednesday to finish the regular season before heading into their own Class 3A Ottawa Regional next week.

Byron 61, Seneca 35: At Seneca, the host Fighting Irish (21-9) trailed throughout a nonconference loss to state-ranked Byron despite 11 points from Kennedy Hartwig.

“Byron is a top-five team for a reason,” Seneca coach Brian Holman said. “and they were as good as advertised tonight. We didn’t play poorly, we just got a little overmatched at times. … Outstanding regular season from our girls with 20-plus wins and a conference championship. We’ll prepare to try to win a couple more next week [in the regional] starting tomorrow.”

Somonauk 42, Dwight 34: At Somonauk, the host Bobcats closed the regular season with a three-game winning streak.

Haley McCoy (15 points, five assists, six rebounds) and Josie Rader (12 points, six rebounds, four steals) led the attack, with Katelyn Curtis, Brynn Pennington and Abby Hohmann combining to add 15 more points, seven assists and 15 rebounds.

Boys basketball

Woodland 48, Earlville 45: At the Warrior Dome, the host Warriors (7-18) used a 3-pointer from senior Carter Ewing – his only points of the game – in the final seconds to record the nonconference victory.

Connor Dodge drained six 3s himself on the way to a team-high 25 points. Jonathan Moore and Nick Plesko added eight points apiece.

For the Red Raiders (15-12), Garett Cook scored 13 points, Ryan Browder added 10, and Diego Vazquez and Adam Waite (20 rebounds) pitched in nine points apiece.

Lexington 66, Flanagan-Cornell 61: At Lexington, the visiting Falcons were topped in Heart of Illinois Conference play.

Newark 64, Crossroads 49: In nonconference play, the Norsemen (15-11) notched the win behind Jake Kruser’s 13-point, eight-rebounds, six-assist performance.

Zach Carlson added 13 points and eight rebounds, with Joe Martin contributing 14 points.

Sophomore/JV boys basketball

Marquette 54, Serena 30: At Bader Gym, Alec Novotney led Marquette with 27 points, while A.J. Phalen added 11. Tops for the Huskers was Cash Raikes with 10 points.

Seneca 46, Streator 44 (OT): At Pops Dale Gymnasium, Isaiah Weibel’s 3-pointer at the buzzer forced overtime for Streator, but Seneca scored the win.

Weibel (12 points), Nolan Ketcham (12) and Blaize Bressner (11) led Streator. Grant Siegel (12) and Cameron Shriey (11) paced Seneca.