Down 10-9 to Paramus Catholic with three minutes left in the first quarter of the 1st round of the Joe Poli Holiday Tournament at Pascack Valley High School, Old Tappan needed a spark and that is what they exactly received from senior Kelsey McLaughlin scoring six points during a 13-0 run turning the deficit into a 22-10 advantage.

The lead would grow further in the 2nd quarter with senior Ariana Chipolone pouring in six of her game-high eighteen points increasing the margin to 28-12. Old Tappan would end up outscoring the Paladins 12-3 the rest of the quarter taking a commanding 40-15 lead at halftime.

“We had a couple of kids on the bench with fouls and the kids who came of the bench especially Sophia(Downey), Ashley(Sullivan) and Maia(Levenshus) especially did a great job” said Old Tappan Head Coach Brian Dunn. “Kelsey(McLaughlin) hit a couple of a couple of big buckets” added Dunn. “We played great defense that set us up with some good opportunities”

In the 3rd quarter, senior Emily Crevani pumped in twelve of her sixteen points as the Golden Knights lead ballooned to 56-18. “Emily plays always the way she does and shot out of the canon after halftime” said Brian Dunn. “We passed the ball when they(Paramus Catholic) pressed us and we extended the floor with some good spacing and finished” added Dunn.

“This is a tradition playing in the this tournament and as long as I have been coaching here which is 20 years” “It’s a great holiday tradition for us to come play and we love playing in it” “Win or lose always fun and we’re going to find out about our team and what we need to get better at”