Holy Angels successfully followed its game plan and forced Pascack Valley to make adjustments.

Although the outcome wasn’t in the halos favor, coach Sue Liddy was proud of the miraculous effort.

"Our biggest fear was matching up with Rebecca Lynch," said Liddy. "Our post players did a magnificent job and if they were going to beat us, we wanted it to be from outside shooting."

The Angels contained Lynch, holding her to only 12 points, but it was the outside shooting and stellar performance of Indian Sara Ely that made the difference. Ely racked up 29 points to push Pascack Valley past the Holy Angels, 68-44.

"I thought we played hard, but they just shot lights out," said Liddy. "They’re well coached and they hit outside shots."

Krissi Gorsuch, who was coming off an injury, made key contributions and her defensive performance was a huge reason why Lynch was pinned down in the opening quarters.

"It was different playing someone that’s not a primarily a post player," said Gorsuch. "I was able to keep up with her, but she does really well shooting outside."

It looked positive for the Angels early on, as point guard Cara Bonito laid up two baskets for the early 4-3 lead. On the other side of the court the interior defense collapsed perfectly to take away the Indians’ inside attacks.

After the two layups, the Angels shots rimmed out. Kasheema Besley and Kaley deNicola hoisted up two shots that went in-and-out.

Pascack Valley took advantage of the missed baskets and orchestrated a 10-0 run, which lasted four minutes. It also helped that the Indians were able to generate second chances on the strength of four first quarter offensive rebounds.

By the end of the first eight minutes the Angels trailed 15-6. Between quarters Liddy stressed the importance of boxing out and limiting the Indian’s shooting opportunities.

Fresh off the bench, Jackie Jerkovich ignited the offense, using her patented high arcing shot to open the second quarter with a three-pointer. Jerkovich would later hit a breakaway layup as she scored seven of the nine Angel points of the quarter. Emily Liguori was also helpful, getting the ball to her teammates.