OTTAWA – There’s a certain amount of pressure placed on every player in a high school game, but the Ottawa girls basketball squad likes to turn that heat up – way, way up – every chance it gets.
The Pirates extended their aggressive, in-your-face man defense to well beyond the 3-point arc, keeping an already shorthanded Serena squad from getting into any kind of offensive flow through the first three quarters on their way to a 51-32 victory Monday night in Kingman Gym.
That defense forced the Huskers into 13 turnovers in the half and to chilly 23.5% (4-of-17) shooting through two periods and 19.2% (5 for 26) after three.
At the other end, Grace Carroll netted 15 points, and Hailey Larson added 10 points to go with a game-best 11 rebounds to pace Ottawa’s fourth win in five games this season.
Serena, which was without guard Gwyneth O’Connor (out for the season with a torn ACL) and center Makayla McNally (illness), dropped to 2-4 despite 14 points and nine rebounds from Paisley Twait and 10 points and eight boards from Jenna Setchell.
But it was the Ottawa defense that dictated the pace and the score through the first three quarters.
“That was the game plan,” Ottawa coach Brent Moore said. “For everyone to get up the floor and really pressure defensively, to be good on the ball and have good awareness off the ball and communicating, being in the right spots and we did that most of the night … In the preseason , we really preached being aggressive on the defensive end with on-ball pressure and jumping to the ball, then running, running, running in transition. We did a lot of that in the Thanksgiving tournament and again tonight.
“We have a lot of girls who can contribute. We focus on that in practice so when their number gets called, they can give the same kind of energy and passion, especially at the defensive end. If you don’t, you’re gonna get a talkin’ to because that’s what we pride ourselves on.”
Twait tossed in the game’s first basket while Ottawa was struggling to find the range, but the visitors managed only four more field goals over the next 22-plus minutes. After Kendall Lowery tied the game with a fast-break bucket, the Pirates scored 23 of the next 29 points, taking a 25-8 lead on a Carroll putback with 2:13 left in the second quarter.
It retained the momentum after the break, following a pair of Setchell free throws with a 12-1 burst, capped by back-to-back 3-pointers by Carroll. That 28-point margin was the home team’s biggest advantage of the night.
Ottawa subbed freely in the fourth, and the Huskers made the most of it, Setchell firing in seven points and Twait getting six, but the 15-7 period only made a small dent in the deficit.
Serena, which came away with a 36-30 rebounding advantage, finished shooting 27.5% (11 of 40) with 21 turnovers. Meanwhile, the Pirates canned shots at a 40.4% rate (21 of 52) and had only 11 miscues.
“Ottawa always does put on pressure like that, which is why we like to come here,” Serena coach Jim Jobst said. “They switch everything, they’re quick, they’re aggressive and they certainly gave us some issues early. They force you to not execute very well, but we added some of that [difficulty] on our own. We cleaned it up a little in the second half, the cuts were better and we took better angles on our cuts, so I was happy with the second half.
“Without two starters, we had to bring up some JV kids and they had played a tough game there, and they haven’t had a whole lot of varsity experience. It’s good to get thrown to the wolves against a team like Ottawa. It can only help make us better.”