Demarest — In a long and grueling basketball season, no matter the player or talent, it’s impossible to bring your best game to the hardwood every night.
Senior point guard and offensive catalyst Cara Bonito had a rough night, only shooting 1-of-15 in a heartbreaking loss to Montclair, 30-28, at the Academy of Holy Angels Jan. 17.
"We didn’t play well and I really didn’t play well," said Bonito.
Angels coach Sue Liddy knew days like this would come, but hoped her team would have had a better response.
"Where she (Bonito) goes the team goes, but she’s going to have these nights. No one’s perfect," said Liddy. "But when this does happen the rest of the team has to step up and we didn’t do that tonight."
The Angels did receive contributions from Nicole Pepe, Jackie Jerkovich and Emily Liguori in the losing effort.
Montclair was able to utilize its inside presence with Latori Hines-Allen and Kamari Tellis standing more than six feet in height, but the Angels’ quickness and ability to adapt kept it close.
"We switched the defenses up and played a little bit of zone and man, but it was our offense that really did us in," said Liddy.
Boxing out proved to be a problem for the home team, as the Mounties grabbed 15 offensive rebounds, giving them plenty of second chances.
"We couldn’t keep up," said Liddy. "We looked a step slower than usual and we had problems boxing out."
On the offensive side the Angels were unable to establish their inside game and failed to set up quality looks.
"They had two really strong post players and we weren’t able to box them out well," said center Krissi Gorsuch. "They were more physical than us."
After falling behind 16-9 at the half, the Angels came out soaring, sinking everything from short jumpers to three-pointers.
The Angels received a huge lift off the bench from Jerkovich, as she single handedly tied the game with two clutch threes to end the third all knotted up at 23.
"I was trying to pump up my team and bring us back into the game," said Jerkovich. "I wasn’t able to get any open looks in the first half, but I found some space in the second."
It was a stalemate until the Mounties’ Amber Wesselis hit a jumper to put the visiting team ahead. AHA couldn’t keep up and the swishing Montclair free throws sealed the win.
"It came down to the last two possessions we had and we didn’t score," said Liddy. "We needed to score and we had lots of shots, but we weren’t able to."
The Angels plan to treat the loss as a learning experience.
"We take every game and try and learn from it," said Gorsuch. "We try and correct the mistakes so that we come out stronger."
E-mail: mailto:cheung@northjersey.com or call 201-894-6709
