Cami Pfeifer had been struggling with her outside shot the last few games.

Fortunately for Pfeier and her Morris teammates, that outside shot started falling in the second half Thursday night against Manteno. Pfeifer made a 3-pointer late in the third quarter, then hit two more in the fourth. Those baskets helped Morris rally from a six-point deficit and come away with a 56-45 win against a team that was 24-5 entering the game and is the top seed in Sub-Sectional B of the Class 2A Pontiac Sectional.

“I had been struggling with my 3-pointers the last couple games and the first half of this game,” said Pfeifer, who finished with nine points. “Even at halftime, I was nervous because I didn’t make any in the first half. Once I got it figured out, I got hot and made a few.

“It’s really nice to have a player like Lily Hansen under the basket, because the other team collapses on her, and that leaves us open for outside shots. We also did a good job on defense. We were able to get some offense from our defense. We were able to get Lily her 1,000th point and this should give us a nice confidence boost heading into the postseason.”

Manteno (24-6) led 37-35 entering the fourth quarter and got back-to-back baskets from Kendall Blanchette to build a 41-35 lead. Morris got a basket by Alyssa Jepson off an assist from Tessa Shannon to start a 12-0 run and take the lead for good.

Pfeifer followed with a 3-pointer off an assist from Jepson to pull Morris to within 41-40. Maddi Simpson (13 points) went coast-to-coast with a rebound for a 42-41 Morris lead and Pfeifer followed with a 3-pointer to put Morris ahead 45-41.

After a Manteno timeout, Hansen (23 points, 14 rebounds) scored with 3:17 to play to give her team a 47-41 advantage.

“It was a little rough for us early,” Morris coach Mike Lutz said. “Cami getting hot was huge for us. She can come out and shoot like that, so that was good to see. Maddi Simpson did a good job off the bench and Lily and Tessa Shannon got some huge rebounds for us.

“It’s great to see how far these girls have come since the beginning of the year. They kept working hard and have left a great legacy as far as hard work and working together.”

It was senior night at Morris, and Lutz started all five seniors - Hansen, Shannon, Jepson, Brooke Thorson and Kaylee Maddox. Maddox has a broken finger, so both teams agreed before the tip that each team would score a free basket, with Morris’ going to Maddox.

Manteno used seven early points from Maddie Gesky (21 points, 16 rebounds, 10 blocks) to claim an 11-4 lead. The Panthers’ lead reached 16-6 before Morris scored the final six points of the quarter.

Morris (12-19) got a 3-pointer from Simpson and a basket by Hansen to start the second quarter and took its first lead at 17-16. Manteno responded by outscoring Morris 12-3 the rest of the quarter to take a 28-20 lead into halftime.

Manteno led 36-30 in the final minute of the third before Pfeifer hit a 3-pointer for Morris to make it 36-33. After a free throw by Manteno’s Payton Boros, Pfeifer assisted on a basket by Ava Petersen to pull Morris to within 37-35 to start the fourth. Sophie Peterson finished with eight points for the Panthers, while Emily Horath had seven points and nine rebounds.

“Morris just hung around,” Manteno coach Bethany Stritar said. “They really played great defense in the fourth quarter and gave themselves a chance.

“It was nice to see Maddie Gesky get going. She had struggled the last few games, but getting a triple-double tonight was nice to see. Our defense played well for the most part. This was a good test for us heading into the postseason.”