ROCHELLE — The Rochelle Lady Hub varsity basketball team struggled to defend against Ottawa’s ball movement during the first half on Tuesday. Despite the Pirates building a double-digit lead, however, Ottawa’s offense went away quietly over the final two quarters.

The Lady Hubs successfully adjusted their defense on Tuesday, limiting Ottawa to only eight points on three made field goals in the second half of a 44-27 loss against the Pirates. Rochelle head coach Ryan McQuade said that switching from a zone defense to more man-to-man allowed the Lady Hubs to pressure Ottawa’s ball handlers and limit the team’s ball movement.

“They were killing us with their ball screens during the first half,” McQuade said. “We made the adjustment to start hedging and trapping those screens during the second half and we got a lot of easy looks in transition as a result… Ottawa put on a clinic in the first half in terms of ball movement and they were getting a lot of easy looks all over the floor against our zone.”

Ottawa’s Zoe Harris and Marlie Orlandi carried the scoring load for the Pirates, with both players finishing the game at 17 points. Ottawa led 36-14 at halftime, but the Lady Hubs slowly worked their way back in the second half, holding the Pirates to only two third-quarter points.

With seniors Lucy Bunger and Jordin Dickey exerting themselves with their perimeter defense, Rochelle looked for senior Abby Luxton on offense. The 6-foot-1 senior took advantage of her size and length at the basket, converting multiple put-backs on offensive rebounds to finish the game with a team-high 13 points. The Lady Hubs fell to 5-8 and 0-3 in the Interstate 8.

“We don’t quit and we’re going to build on that second half,” McQuade said. “We have to get healthy since we have a few girls down right now and we have to build on the little things like Abby getting going and holding them to eight points in the second half. I’m not a huge moral victory person, but we have to build on those types of things when we struggle offensively.”