A valiant defensive effort from Marshalltown girls basketball wasn’t enough to hold back Ottumwa in a 33-19 Bulldog victory at the Roundhouse on Tuesday night.

The 33 points is a season-low for Ottumwa (12-2), but Marshalltown’s own offensive struggles, combined with 11 fourth-quarter turnovers, undercut the Bobcats down the stretch.

“We watched film on Ottumwa and saw that they struggled with zone, so we wanted to really try and emphasize that,” MHS head coach Brian Murphy said. “The girls really owned that tonight.”

Millie Heitmann and Frankie Long had four points each for the Bobcats and Tania Mora added three points.

The Bobcats had to battle overwhelming foul troubles, whistled for 26 fouls — though Ottumwa was just 14-of-28 from the free-throw line.

“That threw things for a loop, but we channeled our frustration with that foul troubled into positive energy,” Murphy said. “We spotted them a few points to start the same and the deficit stayed around that for most of the game.”

Marshalltown scored the first four of the second half on buckets from Long and Sydney Kapayou to get within 20-16 but Ottumwa closed the third quarter on an 8-2 run.

The Bobcats finished 7-of-30 (23.3 percent) from the floor.

“When the ball moves, we have a good understanding of where we need to go next without the ball,” Murphy said. “When the ball sticks, our ball movement kind of fades a little bit and fatigue plays a role as well.”

Marshalltown (5-12) travels to Fort Dodge on Friday.

“One of the things we need to work on as a young team is we’ve got to create that energy on offense,” Murphy said. “Sometimes it’s as good as making a good cut off the ball. That’s what Jorja did for us starting the second quarter by attacking the rim right away, and that finally got us going into an attacking mindset that really sparked our effort the rest of the game.”

Ottumwa 33, Marshalltown 19

OTTUMWA (12-2) — Camdyn Crouse 3 5-6 14, Miya Fuller 2 0-0 4, Hunter Caldwell 2 3-4 7, Brylee Jaeger 0 2-6 2, Nellie Morgan 1 1-6 3, Lea Baroma 0 0-0 0, Cameron Pauls 0 3-4 3, Alli Goedken 0 0-2 0. TOTALS 8 14-28 33.

MARSHALLTOWN (5-12) — Kinsley Bowie 1 1-4 3, Millie Heitmann 2 0-0 4, Sydney Kapayou 1 0-0 2, Ellie Hughes 0 0-0 0, Frankie Long 1 2-2 4, Amairra Johnson 0 1-4 1, Aubrie Tejada 0 0-0 0, Tania Mora 1 0-0 3, Jorja Janssen 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 7 4-10 19.

MHS 3 9 6 1 — 19

OTTUMWA 13 7 8 5 — 33

3-Point Goals–Ottumwa 3 (Crouse 3), MHS 1 (Mora). Team Fouls–MHS 26, Ottumwa 15. Fouled Out–Long.