GENESEO – The Ottawa and Streator girls basketball teams saw their seasons end Monday in the Class 3A Geneseo Regional.

The No. 9-seeded Bulldogs couldn’t keep up with No. 1 Geneseo in a 98-21 loss in the first semifinal, while the No. 4 Pirates led by 10 points at halftime but couldn’t hold on in a 53-47 loss to No. 5 Rock Island.

Rock Island 53, Ottawa 47

The Pirates led by 10 points at halftime, but the Rocks turned up their defensive pressure in the third quarter and outscored Ottawa 25-9 to take a six-point lead into the final eight minutes.

Ottawa withstood the run and tied it midway through the fourth quarter, but the Rocks outshot the Pirates at the free-throw line to earn a spot in Thursday’s championship game.

“Everybody knew what was at stake. It was a regional semifinal against high-quality competition,” Ottawa coach Brent Moore said. “From top to bottom, everybody was engaged. We gave it a battle. We just came up short.

“We knew they were going to come back battling and fighting, and they did. They punched us, and we stopped the bleeding and came right back, and it was a good game down to the end.”

Trailing 25-15 at halftime, the Rocks kicked up their defensive intensity and held Ottawa to just a pair of free throws in the first 4:39 of the third quarter. Meanwhile, Rock Island scored seven of its first eight possessions, capped with a 3-pointer by Kayla Rice to give the Rocks a 30-27 lead with 3:22 left in the quarter.

Rock Island led 40-34 after three quarters.

“At halftime, I said, ‘Look, you’re either going to go down swinging, or we’re going to look really bad,’ ” Rock Island coach Henry Hall said. “[In the third] we defended like we normally do and got after it a little bit. We got some easy offensive stuff and started playing a little better.”

The Pirates chipped away at the deficit in the fourth. Brooke Waddell sank a 3-pointer with 4:19 left in the game to tie it at 42. Waddell later buried her sixth 3 of the game with 1:47 left to pull the Pirates within a point at 47-46, but Rock Island made 7 of 8 free throws down the stretch to hold on.

The Rocks finished 15 of 20 from the charity stripe compared to 7 of 22 for the Pirates, including 4 of 12 in the fourth quarter.

“Free throws make or break games, especially in playoff basketball, and they made them, and we didn’t,” Moore said.

While the Pirates struggled from the free-throw line, they didn’t from the 3-point line. Waddell and Zoe Harris drained three 3s each in the first half, which – combined with limiting the Rocks to one field goal in the second quarter – helped the Pirates build their 10-point halftime lead.

“I thought we moved the basketball well,” Moore said. “I thought we attacked off the dribble well, and our shooters shot with confidence, and we held them in terms of defense – one and done. Thought we were good on both ends of the floor.”

The Pirates made three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, and Waddell connected on six 3s and finished with 19 points.

The Pirates finish 23-6.

“It was a fantastic season for these kids,” Moore said. “I couldn’t be more proud of them. We had a great senior group. I’m sad to see them leave.

“We say ‘Pirate family for a reason.’ We mean it when we say that, and it’s next girl up, and we’re going to keep the tradition going.”

Geneseo 98, Streator 21

The Maple Leafs, ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press poll, raced to a 33-2 lead after the first quarter.

“We struggled a lot this year, so we knew it was going to be tough,” Streator coach Beau Albert said. “You can’t really practice or prepare for their speed and their length. We don’t have that.

“I thought the girls did what they could. They gave what they had. [Geneseo is] a good team, and sometimes you just tip your hat.”

The Bulldogs trailed 58-9 at halftime and 81-16 after three quarters.

Bridget McGurk scored 12 points for Streator, which finishes 3-24.

“We lost a lot last year, so I knew it was going to be tough with some new faces that hadn’t had a chance to play a whole lot,” Albert said. “We finished with three wins. There were a couple other games that were close in the holiday tournament. I feel like I got everything out of the girls that I could.

“It’s unfortunate, but I told the seniors in the locker room it says a lot about their character when you know things aren’t going your way on the scoreboard and you keep coming to practice every single day and working and getting better.”